Can the Maximin Principle Serve as a Basis for Climate Change Policy?

Climate change can potentially cause massive harm and perhaps even global catastrophe. It is sensible to try to avoid the worst case scenarios by taking precautions, known as the precautionary principle in environmental policy. The UN Framework Convention urges the adoption of a precautionary approach to climate change, but it does not attempt to formulate a precautionary principle to capture that approach. Critics argue that the precautionary principle's weaker formulations are vacuous, while its stronger, more robust formulations lack adequate justification and lead to inconsistent and irrational policy choices. The author argues that there is another principle tha can capture the precautionary approach -- a principle familiar from the moral view known as prioritarianism. Adapted from the source document.