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6 - The Meaning of Conservative

from Part I - Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2023

Simon Sharpe
Simon Sharpe
Affiliation:
World Resources Institute, London
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Summary

In science, to be ‘conservative’ is to understate your findings. In insurance, it means the opposite: erring on the side of overstatement of risks. For a clear assessment of the risks of climate change, we need these two cultures to meet in the middle. This requires a separation of tasks: between those who gather information, and those who assess risk.

Keywords

Error biasConservativeUnderstatementRisk managementInsuranceCultureScience
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Chapter
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Five Times Faster
Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change
 , pp. 59 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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