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Some theories on equity and GHG emission permits |
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A system in which emission rights are allocated
pro rata the status quo (in other words big polluters get more
rights to pollute than small polluters) is called
“grandfathering” . It has the advantage that it takes account
of the practical reality that pollution patterns do not change
overnight. It is however not simple to provide an ethical
basis for such an arrangement.
Regarding an eventual allocation of emission rights to countries, there is at present
some support for grandfathering or some variant thereof in the
developed world but almost none in the developing countries.
This is understandable, especially given that almost any other
system is likely to lead to a substantial transfer of resources from the former to the latter.
A regime advocated often
in the developing countries is an equal per capita allocation
of pollution rights. It has the advantage of being fair at
least on the face of it. What makes this regime particularly
attractive is its simplicity. Such a regime would lead to a
massive transfer of resources from the developed world to the
developing world and is unlikely to find much support in the
developed world.
The theory of contraction and
convergence is presently widely advocated as perhaps the
most elegant of those based on an equal per capita allocation
as described above. It has however been heavily criticised by
developed nations with high per capita emissions as it would
implicitly mean either a heavy investment in renewables or an
expensive purchase of emission rights in order to comply. It
can be expected that the emissions trading market will be much
larger under a contraction and convergence regime than under a
grandfathering regime.
For an in-depth discussion of
the subject see Ashton and Wang in the Pew Centre report
"Beyond Kyoto: Advancing the international effort against
climate change" at
http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/Beyond%20Kyoto.pdf, page
61-84
For information on the domestic allocation of
emissions rights, click on the menu at the left bottom of the
page.
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