In the Lima Call for Climate Action the parties commit to reaching an “ambitious agreement in 2015”, based on the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” (CBDR).

The CBDR principle is however a mutilation of the original ECBDR stated in the Convention:
“The Parties should protect the climate system … … on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities …” (Article 3.1)

In Lima the negotiators have once again neglected equity. Ironically, equity is the only way to overcome the chronic burden-sharing impasse forever.

More importantly, acknowledging that every human being on Earth deserves an equal emissions right would lead to a straightforward and transparent regime, where a global emissions target is equitably distributed among the global population in the form of absolute allowances to the parties. Trading of unused allowances would provide developing parties with significant climate funding of their own.

The Kyoto Protocol has proven largely ineffective. Surprisingly, the parties intend to build the upcoming treaty on the same architecture.

If emissions must be halved to stabilise climate, then the world desperately needs a triple-A treaty. Most likely, what we will get instead is just another quad-I* class.

(*) "quad-I" stands for intricate, ineffective, insufficient and inequitable

Reference

Mhai Selph, December 2014

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