Overshooting 2°: Moral and Policy Considerations

International Conference

1- 2 October 2015

Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Campus Westend
Gebäude "Normative Ordnungen", EG 01
Max-Horkheimer-Str. 2, 60323 Frankfurt am Main

Registration required:
069/798-31521 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

International climate change negotiations are converging on a policy arrangement commonly known as “pledge and review.” Countries will independently make pledge reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; and progress towards realizing those pledges will be subject to some kind of international review. The virtue of this policy is that it seems capable of eliciting widespread agreement among a great many states. One significant drawback is that the total reductions pledged are very likely to be less than the deep cuts required to keep cumulative historical emissions of carbon below one trillion tons. Therefore, the likelihood of limiting warming to the internationally recognized goal of 2°C will be low. The agreement is likely to be wide, but the reductions not deep.

This conference is devoted to a number of questions regarding this expected state of affairs:
Is it reasonable to hope that the effects on the energy market of a wide agreement on mitigation policy will nonetheless lead to innovations making it possible to achieve the 2°C goal? Should some other international goal for mitigation be set? Or is international policy best pursued without any such a goal? How much protection can we reasonably expect from adaptation? And what should the aims of adaptation be? What is the appropriate account of responsibility for adaptation? Can a satisfactory costs and damages policy be developed? Has humanity’s relationship to nature fundamentally changed? If so, are new norms of interaction with nature required? Should efforts at the assisted migration of species be accelerated? Should the research and deployment of carbon dioxide removal be emphasized? Should the development and testing of solar radiation management be accelerated? What would be required in order for the governance of solar radiation management to be legitimate?

Programme:
1 October 2015

Announcements/Welcoming: 9:45-10:00

Session 1: 10:00-11:40
Volker Mosbrugger, “Overshooting 2° C – Lessons from Earth History”
Stephen M. Gardiner, “Is Geoengineering ‘Plan B’?”

Coffee Break: 11:40-11:55

Session 2: 11:55-13:35
Robyn Eckersley, “Improvising around a Zombie Regime: The Fate of Equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities in the Climate Negotiations”
Diana Hummel, “Societal Relations to Nature & the Science-Policy Interface in the Anthropocene – A plea for Transdisciplinarity”

Lunch: 13:35-14:35

Session 3: 14:35-16:15
Catriona McKinnon, “Risking Extinction: An International Crime?”
Ed Page, “Compensating for Climatic Loss and Damage in the Developing World”

Coffee Break: 16:15-16:30

Session 4: 16:30-18:10
Joachim Curtius, “Overshooting 2°C: A Meteorologist’s Point of View”
Harald Stelzer, “Evaluating the Imaginary: Climate Engineering in Overshooting Scenarios”

2 October 2015
Announcements: 9:45-10:00

Session 5: 10:00-11:40
Thomas Hickler, “Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Global Justice”
Benjamin Hale, “Reshuffling the Deck Chairs: Assisted Colonization and Managed Relocation in a Forever Warming World”

Coffee Break: 11:40-11:55

Session 6: 11:55-13:35
Clare Heyward, “Making Windows into Men’s Souls? A Scanlonian Approach to the Moral Significance of
Intentional Climate Change”
Megan Blomfield, “Geoengineering in a Climate of Uncertainty”

Lunch: 13:35-14:35

Session 7: 14:35-16:15
Darrel Moellendorf, “Can Dangerous Climate Change Be Avoided?”
Simon Caney, “Climate Targets: How to Choose them in Ideal and Non-ideal Circumstances”

All sessions will be 1 hour and 40 minutes. Each session will consist of two 30 minute presentations followed by 40 minutes of discussion time.

Confirmed Speakers:
Megan Blomfield, Lecturer in Value Theory, University of Bristol Philosophy Department
Simon Caney, Professor of Political Theory, Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Magdalen College, Oxford University
Joachim Curtius, Professor, Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main
Robyn Eckersley, Professor in Political Science in the School of Social and Political Sciences, and Chair of the Discipline of Political Science at the University of Melbourne
Stephen M. Gardiner, Professor of Philosophy & Ben Rabinowitz Endowed Professor of the Human Dimensions of the Environment
Benjamin Hale, Associate Professor, Philosophy and Environmental Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder
Clare Heyward, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
Thomas Hickler, Professor for Quantitative Biogeography Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and Department for Physical Geography, Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main
Diana Hummel, Research Scientist and Member of the Executive Board, ISOE - Institute for Social-Ecological Research (Frankfurt); Member Research Activity 9, Ecosystems Services and Climate, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F)
Catriona McKinnon, Professor, Politics and International Relations, University of Reading
Darrel Moellendorf, Cluster Chair of International Political Theory Excellence Cluster Normative Orders; Professor of Philosophy (co-opted); Member Research Activity 9, Ecosystems Services and Climate, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main
Volker Mosbrugger, Director General of Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum; Scientific Coordinator Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F); Chair in Historical Geology and Palaeontology, Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main
Edward Page, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
Harald Stelzer, Professor of Philosophy and Leader of Working Area Political Philosophy, University of Graz. University of Graz

Schedule (pdf): click here...

For further information (pdf): click here...

Presented by:
Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders"