Most everything we know about climate change is bad. Most everything we don’t know makes it worse. Deep-seated uncertainty — often seen as an excuse for inaction — is, in fact, the best justification yet for strong, reasoned action. In this seminar Gernot Wagner will present his new book Climate Shock and explore tail risks, Black Swans and ‘unknown unknowns’ to argue why to act, and explores what would happen if we don’t. In particular, as much as the ‘free rider’ effects prevents us to take reasoned action today, the ‘free driver’ effect seems to lead us down the road to a geo-engineered planet.

About the Speaker: Gernot Wagner serves as lead senior economist at the Environmental Defense Fund. He teaches energy economics as adjunct associate professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and served on the editorial board of the Financial Times as a Peter Martin Fellow, where he covered economics, energy, and the environment.