CLIMATE
CHANGE
Claire Foster © 2006
One global
response to climate change is ‘contraction and convergence’. This
is the name of a proposal to deal with the problem of the emission of
greenhouse gases which are harming the atmosphere around the planet. It
first proposes a contraction of global greenhouse gas emissions to a
safe and stable level. This constitutes a budget of greenhouse gas
emissions. Shares in this budget are agreed on the basis of convergence
from now, when shares are broadly proportional to income (as agreed in the
Kyoto Protocol), to an agreed future date, when shares are based upon
population. Shares can be traded so that countries who wish to use more
than their share of global greenhouse gas emissions can buy more from countries
which do not use so much. Revenue from selling shares should be
reinvested in zero emissions technology.
Contraction to an agreed target of reduced
greenhouse gas emissions will be based upon precaution and the scientific
advice of the International Panel on Climate Change. All governments or
regional groupings of governments will jointly and severally agree to observe
such a target.
Convergence is achieved on the basis of
equity. Each year’s ration of the global emissions budget is shared so
that each country or group of countries progressively converges on the same
allocation per inhabitant by an agreed date, eg 2030. Emissions trading
will facilitate a smooth progression towards a contracted level of global
greenhouse gas emission.