This book explores the role of the insurance industry in contributing to, and responding to, the harms that climate change has brought and will bring either directly or indirectly. The Anthropocene signifies a new role for humankind: we are the only species that has become a driving force in the planetary system. What might criminology be in the Anthropocene? What does the Anthropocene suggest for future theory and practice of criminology? Criminology and Climate, as part of Routledge's Criminology at the Edge Series, seeks to contribute to this research agenda by exploring differing vantage points relevant to thinking within criminology.
Contemporary societies are presented with myriad intersecting and interacting climate-related harms at multiple scales. Criminology and Climate brings attention to the finance sector, with a particular focus on the insurance industry as one of its most significant components, in both generating and responding to new climate 'harmscapes'. Bringing together thought leaders from a variety of disciplines, this book considers what finance and insurance have done and might still do, as 'fulcrum institutions', to contribute to the realisation of safe and just planetary spaces.
An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, law and environmental studies and provides readers with a basis to analyse the challenges and opportunities for the finance sector, and in particular the insurance industry, in the regulation of climate harms.
About the Author: Cameron Holley is a Professor at the University of New South Wales Law, UNSW. Cameron works in the areas of environmental law, natural resources law, energy law and water law, with a focus on regulation and governance.
Liam Phelan is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Australia. Liam researches and teaches in two areas: environmental studies with a particular focus on complexity and climate change, and higher education policy and practice.
Clifford Shearing holds professorships at the Universities of Cape Town, Griffith and Montreal. The principal focus of Clifford's academic work has been on widening criminology's boundaries, with a primary focus on 'security governance'. His policy and applied work have been concerned with enhancing safety. His research and writing have become increasingly centred on criminology's responses to the challenges of the Anthropocene.
