Fixing Climate One Billion Emitters at a Time

"A new framework for reducing carbon emissions takes a crack at the knottiest dilemma confronting a global climate solution: how to divvy cuts between rich and poor nations.

The study, published Monday, attempts to sidestep the rancor, finding that virtually every country has a class of individuals – the so-called 'high emitters' - enjoying a rich, carbon-intensive lifestyle. If those individuals, no matter their locale, are forced to take responsibility for their emissions, a great swath of countries become participants in the climate effort, the study claims.

'Rich people in poor countries shouldn't be able to hide behind the poor people in those countries,' said Robert Socolow, co-director of Princeton's Carbon Mitigation Initiative and a co-author of the study, published in the journal Proceeds of the National Academy of Sciences.

The problem has dominated talks leading to December's Copenhagen negotiations on a post-Kyoto accord. Developing nations expect the industrialized world to do the heavy lifting on emissions cuts; industrialized countries, noting that the developing world will account for upwards of 97 percent of future emissions growth, want assurances that such growth will be curbed."

Douglas Fischer reports for The Daily Climate July 6, 2009.