In many other parts of the world people loose their livelihood due to climate change, whatever form it takes: drought, flooding, higher temperature, and storm. In Bangladesh alone millions will loose their ground and their living due to the increase of the sea level. 

Early 2008, an Inuit village in Alaska filed a claim against Exxon and other oil companies to get compensation for their livelihood being damaged the end of permafrost caused by climate change. The claimed compensation amounts to 100.000.000 US Dollar (see www.climatelaw.org). 

To compensate victims of climate change is a matter of justice. To call for compensation and to threaten CO2 emitting companies with lawsuits might deter them from further climate damaging investment. Registration of damages is a condition for both.

Registration of damages in this magnitude cannot be done by one organisation alone. It should be done by many. To facilitate registration, software is needed. 

Climate damage registration addresses two issues:

- The injustice deriving from millions people being considerably damaged by climate damaging industrial activity elsewhere;

- Climate change as such in as much as investors will reduce investment into climate damaging industry. 

Several millions or even hundreds of millions of climate change victims could profit in the long run. The more victims are registered, the better the chance to deter investors from climate damages investment. Deterring from climate damaging investment might help to slow down climate change itself. 

The idea requires the following first steps:

• develop a software facilitating the registration of climate damages,
• launch a information campaign about the possibility to register climate damages on one mother website,
• invite organisations free of charge to launch their own climate damage registration campaign, be it on their own server or on a sub-domain on the mother website.

 
After some years, the following two steps have to be made:

• inform victims and organisations involved in damage registration about legal options in various US States and other countries in the world,
• create a basis for bundling claims so that legal or political action gets cheaper and more effective.

 
Ideally, after some years, a market for climate compensation rights emerges. This market provides for immediate discounted compensation for victims who cannot wait for lawsuits or negotiations to end.

Tags: climate, damage, software