16 - IIASA Conference '07 on Global Development - 14-15 November 2007

Stephen W. Pacala

Equitable Solutions to Greenhouse Warming: On the Distribution of Wealth, Emissions and Responsibility Within and Between Nations

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Lecture Summary

Professor Steven Pacala analyzes fairness and climate mitigation. He points out the false rhetoric of fairness. In a nutshell, the United States says to China: “It's not fair for us to have to act when the world's largest emitter, you, is not planning to act.” China looks at the United States and says: “It's not fair for us to have to act when in fact you've created this problem to begin with and we're still trying to develop.” Ditto for India.

Pacala suggests applying the concept of fairness that we use in our everyday lives. In other words: individual responsibility for action. So he aggregates up the responsible actions of individuals to see where that leads. His research finds all three billion of the lowest emitting people emit a total of a half a billion metric tons of CO2, which is essentially nothing. Meaning the development of the desperately poor is not in conflict with solving the climate problem, which is a problem of the very rich.

In contrast, his research shows the rich are really spectacular emitters. The top 500 million people emit half the greenhouse emissions. These people are really rich by global standards. Every single one of them earns more than the average American and they also occur in all the countries of the world. And so the responsibility for emissions reductions does not travel with national identity or with DNA. Emissions go hand in hand with your income. Only by following the money can emissions reductions be fairly made.

Speaker Biography

Stephen Pacala currently holds the Frederick D. Petrie Chair in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and is Director of the Princeton Environmental Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford in 1982 and after ten years on the faculty at the University of Connecticut, he moved to Princeton in 1992. His research focuses on forests and the global carbon cycle. He also directs, with Robert Socolow, Princeton's Carbon Mitigation Initiative, which is aimed at finding solutions to the greenhouse warming problem. He has received numerous honors and awards, including election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2007.

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Last updated: 03 Apr 2009