It therefore seems problematic to me when such lively, well-informed and yet largely unresolved debates get reduced to six key messages, messages that on the one hand carry the aura of urgency, precision and scientific authority - "there is no excuse for inaction" - and yet at the same time remain so imprecise as to dictate or resolve nothing in political terms.

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But the instruments confer a stamp of scientific precision on a judgment that psychologists have proved ill-equipped to make.

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"For me, the priority is not to try and determine with scientific precision exactly how much is going to be needed to cover the cost of adaptation in 2030, " he said.

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In interviews, his scientific precision shines through.

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