With the Market Against Climate Catastrophe – Can That Succeed? – Introduction

Abstract

The situation is paradoxical. The fossil-nuclear energy model causes catastrophes: at the end of the energy chain these are the emissions of greenhouse gases with their effects from the melting of the polar icecaps, the rising of the sea level, the flooding of coastal regions and the expansion of deserts, to the „unusual“ weather events with heat waves and flooding which cost many people their lives (in Russia alone according to statistics of the reinsurance companies the number of deaths due to heat waves in 2010 was 55,000). These catastrophes influence the evolution of life, perhaps even hamper it, and they certainly cause considerable damage measured in monetary terms. The Stern-Report calculated this in 2006. The size of the losses to be expected is probably about 20 per cent of the global social product.