IN 2016, the administration of US president Barack Obama estimated that each tonne of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere caused about $50 of damage. In August, the Trump administration revised that to $1, revealing the charade that has supported decades of inaction on climate change.

Few people would agree that a price could be put on our planet, but that is the idea behind this “social cost of carbon”. Such hubris is the preserve of a select group in industrialised countries, who put a dollar value on the devastation that a strengthened hurricane wreaks …