Sharing Global CO2 Emission Reductions Among One Billion High Emitters

With the goal of triangulating the global debate over future CO2 emissions, a recent paper proposes a new way of sharing CO2 emissions that combines the South's demand for fairness-driven allocation and the North's demand for inclusivity. In this scheme "common but differentiated responsibilities" refers to individuals rather than nations. High CO2 emitting individuals are treated the same, wherever they live, and a global target translates into a universal ceiling on individual emissions. Adding the task of meeting Millennium Development Goals with neutrality toward fossil fuels (use them if they're cheaper) requires minimal additional climate change mitigation.

This presentation will be based on the paper "Sharing Global CO2 Emission Reductions Among One Billion High Emitters"¹, that was published in July in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper has a "wedge" flavor: a simple picture that starts people thinking but is not overly directive. Might this paper be helpful in the run-up to Copenhagen?

¹The co-authors are Robert Socolow, Massimo Tavoni, Shoibal Chakravarty, and Steve Pacala (Princeton Environmental Institute), Heleen de Coninck (Energy Research Center of the Netherlands) and Ananth Chikkatur (Harvard University). The talk will be given by Robert Socolow.