ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the genealogy and recent uses of climate modeling to evaluate whether the field can be considered a global scientific public good. The concept of public goods has a long history in economics and political science, where scholars have interrogated the conditions under which actors such as states provide for the common good. Since World War II, the field of climate modeling has depended on national and supra-national funding regimes to develop the global infrastructure, governance and technology needed to produce global climate knowledge. Observing the international fora organized to produce and authorize knowledge about climate change and govern nations' emissions, one might assume that model outputs are operating outside the forces of the market. But the fact that climate modeling has been pivotal in crafting international agreements and legitimating activist calls for transformation of the carbon economy does not necessarily mean that the knowledge produced functions as a global public good.
