The developing countries respond by pointing out that the vast majority
of the greenhouse gases emitted over the past century have come from
the developed countries and that it is unfair to expect developing
countries to now slow their rate of economic advance. They argue that
they should be allowed to continue their process of economic
development while the rich countries take on the primary responsibility
of reducing global GHG emissions. They also suggest that if the richer
countries feel so strongly about reducing GHG emissions in the
developing world, then the rich countries should be prepared to pay for it
—by making large financial contributions to the developing countries to
help finance the adoption of non-emitting technologies.
The developed countries respond in two ways. First, they point out that
the structure of the world economy is changing dramatically, and that
over the next 50 years, the lion’s share of GHG emissions will come from
the now-developing world, not the developed world. This is partly due to
the higher rates of economic growth in the developing world and partly
due to the greater reliance on energy-intensive production in those
economies. Second, and not surprisingly, the developed economies
respond by suggesting that they have only limited public funds that can
be transferred to the developing countries.
In short, the international climate-change negotiations, including how
each country determines its own emissions-reduction target, contain a
fascinating but complex set of challenges, including many details that
have not been discussed here. We now discuss the types of policies that