AGENDA
- Fair share--what does it mean?
- Which countries are doing their fair share? (Climate Tracker)
OUR QUESTION
- It will take huge GHG reductions to keep global temp rise under 1.5 C
- What is each country's fair share of the effort?
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| Peter Singer--the village drain that's filling up What is each villager's fair share of the remaining space? |
FOUR FAIRNESS FRAMEWORKS
- historical
- time-slice/equality
- capabilities (not in Singer)
- cost-effectiveness (not in Singer)
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| OUR WORLD IN DATA |
- Biggest past polluters should make biggest reductions in GHG going forward
- Details:
- #1--polluter pays for past pollution, unadjusted
- #2--polluter pays, basic emissions ignored
- #3--polluter pays, focus on consumption not production
- #4--polluter pays, focus on period when we knew
- #5--polluter pays, ignore emissions with high global benefits
- the important time-slice is the present
- ethical assumption: each person has a right to the same emissions (equality)
- question: what per capita GHG emissions will keep temp rise below 1.5C in 2100?
- Answer: about 2.3 tons CO2 equivalent
- fair share for each country: population X 2.3 tons
- Details:
- Possible mechanism: cap and trade
- Countries receive emission allowances
- Countries under 2.3 tons per capita will have unused permits
- High emission countries buy them, incentivizing further reductions
- European Union carbon market
- Population question
- Singer: should allowance increase as population grows?
- Could tie allowance to current population
CAPABILITES
- Countries at war
- Countries dealing with natural disasters, famines, etc.
- Underdeveloped countries
COST-EFFECTIVENESS
- Cost per ton reduced
- Cloudy Country vs. Sunny Country
USING THE FOUR CRITERIA TO ASSESS COUNTRIES
- Climate Tracker-- Fairness standards -- they combine them all -- Rating system
- Country ratings -- look at US, China, India, Ukraine, EU
- Cumulatively, countries aren't doing enough--article.
- Why aren't they doing more?
INDIVIDUAL EFFORTS
- Can individuals make up for government inaction?
- Can we make a difference?
- We will discuss more in module 5
NEXT--
Bjorn Lomborg--readings for next time
- Mitigation is very difficult and expensive
- Should focus more on...
- adaptation
- other world problems
- geoengineering (debate on Friday)