Fair distribution of emissions
University of GrazPeer-Reviewed Publication
Ten years ago, on 12 December 2015, the Paris Climate Agreement was signed at the UN Climate Conference. In order to limit global warming to well below two degrees, only a certain amount of CO2 may be emitted worldwide. While the focus was originally on national emission targets, more than 200 subnational regions and almost 300 cities have now adopted their own targets. But how many emissions are they fairly entitled to? Researchers at the University of Graz have now developed transparent criteria for fair distribution at the subnational level for the first time and determined corresponding greenhouse gas budgets for all European regions. The distributive justice framework and analysis, published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications, may serve as a useful starting point, and can be operationalised for other countries, e. g. the USA or China.
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Funder
- European Union under the EU Horizon Europe program (project DISTENDER), Austrian Climate Research Program (13th Call) of the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund (TransFair project)