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Commentary

Nature 421, 891-892 (27 February 2003) | doi:10.1038/421891a

Liability for climate change

Myles Allen

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Will it ever be possible to sue anyone for damaging the climate?

As I write this article in January 2003, the flood waters of the River Thames are about 30 centimetres from my kitchen door and slowly rising. On the radio, a representative of the UK Met Office has just explained that although this is the kind of phenomenon that global warming might make more frequent, it is impossible to attribute this particular event (floods in southern England) to past emissions of greenhouse gases.