A reflection on the series of posts that I have just written.You can read the first here. Passing through the eye of a needle Reflecting on the common but differentiated responsibilities that we share in relation to climate change reminds me of Jesus’ response to the enthusiastic man who runs up and kneels before him to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life. It’s … Continue reading A Biblical reflection on our common but differentiated responsibilities

The eighth in a series of posts on common but differentiated responsibilities. You can read the first here. In matters of climate justice, as in any other form of justice, whether a particular approach appears just often depends on the viewpoint from which you are looking. The convergence and contraction model I outlined in an earlier post is good example. If we assume that all that matters is … Continue reading A historical perspective on common but differentiated responsibilities

The seventh in a series of posts on common but differentiated responsibilities. You can read the first here. As we explored in an earlier post, economic growth over the last 30 years has generally exagerated wealth and emissions inequality within countries to the extent that such inequalities are often now more significant than those between countries. Climate justice thus requires a differentiation of responsibilities within countries as well … Continue reading Differentiating common responsibilities within countries

The sixth in a series of posts on common but differentiated responsibilities. You can read the first here. Demands for the recognition of common but differentiated responsibilies for climate change are rooted in what we now regard as a call for climate justice. It is the rich who have been responsible for the overwhelming majority of the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. The poor are … Continue reading Differentiating common responsibilities between countries

The fifth in a series of posts on common but differentiated responsibilities. You can read the first here. It is not just the science that has developed since 1992. There has also been a revolution in the amount of data that is collected in relation to climate change. At the time of the Earth Summit in Rio there was only a very broad understanding of exactly which countries … Continue reading The role of data in differentiating common responsibilities

The fourth in a series of posts on common but differentiated responsibilities. You can read the first here. The distribution of wealth is not the only thing that has changed since the language of common but differentiated responsibilites emerged. Our understanding of the science of climate change and its impacts has also changed radically since then. The first report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was … Continue reading Common but differentiated responsibilites and the science of climate change

The third in a series of posts on common but differentiated responsibilities. You can read the first here. The world has changed markedly since the phrase “common but differentiated responsibilites” was first framed in 1994. It has changed even more markedly since the underlying concepts were first debated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In those days the distribution of wealth and poverty across the world could … Continue reading How relevant are “common but differentiated responsibilities” today?

The second in a series of posts on common but differentiated responsibilities. You can read the first here. Concerns about the effect that greenhouse gases were having on the climate led the UN General Assembly to endorse the creation of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change in 1988. It published its first report in 1990 which concluded that: emissions resulting from human activities are substantially … Continue reading Where did “common but differentiated responsibilities” come from?