Greenhouse Development Rights

The Greenhouse Development Rights (GDRs) are a concept within the framework of climate justice that aims to ensure that climate change is combated in a way that is just for all countries and people alike. Specifically, the aim is to determine what shares different countries have to bear in the costs for the necessary climate adaptation . This concept is derived u. a. of recommendations in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , in which Article 3.1 states:

"The contracting parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of current and future generations on the basis of equity and in accordance with their shared but different responsibilities and their respective capabilities."

history

The Greenhouse Development Rights approach was developed by Paul Baer and Tom Athanasiou from EcoEquity and by Sivan Kartha and Eric Kemp-Benedict from the Stockholm Environment Institute . In Germany, this approach was mainly taken up and disseminated by the Heinrich Böll Foundation , which is close to green .

The GDRs built on earlier considerations on climate justice, in particular on the arguments put forward by Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain in 1991 in "Global Warming in an Unequal World: A Case of Environmental Colonialism". The authors of the GDR concept considered the approach pursued by Agarwal and Narain of determining emission rights per person to be unsuitable and developed their counter-proposal, which instead assumes the responsibility and the possibilities of a country.

The first edition of the GDR book was published in 2007 by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the concept was presented at the COP-13 in Bali. A second edition was published for the UN climate conference in Poznan in 2008 . The concept is still being developed. Current information can be found on the project homepage.

The concept

What is decisive about Greenhouse Development Rights is that climate protection and economic well-being are understood as two sides of the same coin. The overarching goal of the GDRs is development justice while simultaneously adapting to climate change. The GDRs assume that it will not be possible to stop climate change without the declared right of all people to live in dignity and free from poverty .

The Greenhouse Development Rights derive the obligation of a country to do something against climate change from two factors, namely on the one hand the historical climate debt of a country, i. H. the degree of its responsibility for climate change and, on the other hand, its ability to act, d. H. on the actual possibilities of a country to take active action against climate change. The combination of these two factors is intended to ensure that, for countries that are historically, economically, geographically and socially very different, concrete efforts against climate change can be defined that are comparable with one another.

Responsibility and opportunities

On the basis of a "development threshold" to be determined, the historical emissions of a country and the distribution of income, both the responsibility and the possibilities of a country can be calculated.

The development threshold does not roughly correspond to the poverty line , but is generally set by the authors about 25 percent above it, i.e. H. at around $ 20 per day per person.

A country's responsibility is defined by its share in climate change, currently based on emissions since 1990. However, this year is not a fixed component of the GDR concept, but can be the subject of negotiations.

Finally, the possibilities of a country are defined as that part of the national income that does not have to be used to meet the needs of daily life.

literature

Paul Baer, Tom Athanasiou, Sivan Kartha, Eric Kemp-Benedict: The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework , ed. from the Heinrich Böll Foundation , 2nd edition, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-927760-71-4
Tilman Santarius: Germany's pioneering role put to the test: climate justice according to the Greenhouse Development Rights model , Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86928-010-3

Individual evidence

↑ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , see Article 3.1

^ Paul Baer, Tom Athanasiou et al .: The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework , ed. from the Heinrich Böll Foundation , Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-927760-71-4 There it says on p. 5: “The origin of this idea is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change itself. The Convention states in article 3.1 that 'parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities'. In article 3.4 it furthermore states, that 'parties have a right to, and should, promote sustainable development'. The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework attempts to work this idea through in a manner that explicitly safeguards the right to development. "

^ Anil Agarwal, Sunita Narain: Global Warming in an Unequal World. ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. New Delhi, Center for Science and Environment, 1991 @1@ 2

^ Greenhouse Development Rights website

↑ Paul Baer, Tom Athanasiou a. a .: The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework , ed. from the Heinrich Böll Foundation , Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-927760-71-4 There it says on p. 38: “The answer, at least in part, is that if we are to successfully pursue an emergency climate stabilization program, our agenda must expand beyond climate stabilization. A global climate regime with any promise of success must also embrace the right to sustainable human development, and it must do so explicitly and convincingly. "

↑ Paul Baer, Tom Athanasiou a. a .: The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework , ed. von der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung , Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-927760-71-4 There it says on p. 44: “Fundamentally, the GDRs framework is a rich / poor effort-sharing framework designed to support an emergency climate mobilization while, at the same time, protecting the right to sustainable, pro-poor development. It proceeds by allocating the costs of the mobilization among the people with income levels above the development threshold - irrespective of whether they live in wealthy or developing countries - while allowing those below that threshold to attend to their more pressing economic priorities. "

↑ Paul Baer, Tom Athanasiou a. a .: The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework , ed. from the Heinrich Böll Foundation , Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-927760-71-4 See p. 50 there

Web links

[1] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , see Article 3.1

[2] Paul Baer, Tom Athanasiou et al .: The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework , ed. from the Heinrich Böll Foundation , Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-927760-71-4 There it says on p. 5: “The origin of this idea is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change itself. The Convention states in article 3.1 that 'parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities'. In article 3.4 it furthermore states, that 'parties have a right to, and should, promote sustainable development'. The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework attempts to work this idea through in a manner that explicitly safeguards the right to development. "