In this article we have studied a scheme of partitioning the global carbon budget using an equity principle. In contrast to earlier approaches, this article carefully distinguishes between the two quantities – ‘entitlements to carbon space’ and ‘physically available carbon space’. A positive feature of the carbon budgets approach to allocation of mitigation burdens discussed here
An accusation that is being made post-Copenhagen is that the major developing countries, China in particular, blocked ambitious emission reduction targets that were offered by the advanced economies.
It is necessary to determine the role of various nations, including India, China and the other major developing countries in keeping the total atmospheric stock of greenhouse gases below 450 ppm (carbon dioxide equivalent) which, in turn, would provide a 50% probability of keeping the global temperature increase below 2
This study is founded on the essential fact of climate science, that restricting carbon dioxide emissions to tolerable levels is essential to avoid the drastic and irreversible consequences of a global increase in temperatures beyond 2
