Review of proposals for an Agreement on Future Climate Policy: Perspectives from the responsibilities for GHG reduction

Sharing the responsibilities for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions is a fairly crucial issue in climate talks. In recent two decades, various proposals concerning different facets have been put forward by researchers from different countries or institutions. This paper selects eleven proposals that are presently prevailing over the world and for each proposal, based on the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibility', it also conducts analysis on the background and main designing methods, compares each mechanism employed in the proposals, discusses the matter of 'Equity and Justice' that has become one of the most controversial issues in climate debates and assesses the potential impact on both developed and developing countries. The results of our analysis are as follows: first, whether the history of emissions should be included or not makes a major difference among these proposals. Second, advanced countries are obliged to cooperate with the developing countries for addressing climate challenge with the stipulation that developing groups can fully enjoy their rights of survival and development. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.