ABSTRACT
Avoiding catastrophic climate change that can threaten human civilization as we know it may be the ultimate cooperation challenge that our species has yet faced. Harnessing the power contained in fossil fuels has allowed more people to enjoy material well-being than ever before, but these triumphs have been overshadowed by unintended consequences. There is now broad scientific agreement that our carbon-intensive economy has changed global climate in noticeable ways and that further climate change will likely have catastrophic consequences (IPCC 2014), especially for the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world (UNDP 2011; World Bank 2012).
