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Global Climate Change and Related Inequalities
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Law
International Law

Climate Change Justice: The Challenge for Global Governance

Profile image of Brooke AckerlyBrooke Ackerly

2007, Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev.

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19 pages

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Abstract

Private equity offsets are a partial solution to the difficult justice issues raised on the global level by climate change. Equity offsets allow individuals to follow their moral intuitions about the global differences in carbon emissions and the impact of global warming on individual lives. An ...

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References (34)

  1. See generally John C. Dernbach, Achieving Early and Substantial Greenhouse Gas Reductions Under a Post-Kyoto Agreement, 20 GEO. INT'L ENVTL. L. REV. 573 (2008).
  2. Eileen Claussen, An Effective Approach to Climate Change (Climate Policy), 306 SCIENCE 816 (Oct. 2004);
  3. K. Hasselmann et al., The Challenge of Long-Term Climate Change, 302 SCIENCE 1923 (2003);
  4. Thomas R. Karl & Kevin E. Trenberth, Modern Global Climate Change, 302 SCIENCE 1719, 1720-21 (2003);
  5. David A. King, Climate Change Science: Adapt, Mitigate, or Ignore, 303 SCIENCE 176, 177 (2004);
  6. Stephen H. Schneider, Can We Estimate the Likelihood of Climatic Change in 2100?, 52 CLIMATIC CHANGE 441, 446-49 (2002);
  7. Roger Pielke, Jr., & Daniel Sarewitz, Wanted: Scientific Leadership on Climate, ISSUES SCI. & TECH., Winter 2002, at 27-30, available at http://www.issues.org/19.2/p_pielke.htm. 35. Twentieth century history offers few examples of global systems for holding individuals or states responsible for globally recognized injustices. For a review of international responses to genocides, see generally POWER, supra note 15. For a review of the scholarship on tribunals see Jack Snyder & Leslie Vinjamuri, Trials and Errors: Principle and Pragmatism in Strategies of International Justice, INT'L SECURITY, Winter 2003-2004, at 5-44; Leslie Vinjamuri & Jack Snyder, Advocacy and Scholarship in the Study of 48. See Bruce Ackerman, Bush Can't Act Alone, L.A. TIMES, Nov. 29, 2007, at A23; Tom Karako, It's OK to Go It Alone, L.A. TIMES, Dec. 18, 2007, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-karako18dec18, 0,7386108.story.
  8. See, e.g., BEN CASHORE ET AL., GOVERNING THROUGH MARKETS: FOREST CERTIFICATION AND THE EMERGENCE OF NON-STATE AUTHORITY 88-126 (2005) (noting the role of INGOs and other private parties in forestry governance).
  9. See Vandenbergh & Ackerly, supra note 13, at 64-74.
  10. See, e.g., Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, art. 12, Dec.
  11. 1997, U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/1997/L.7/Add.1 (entered into force Feb. 16, 2005), available at http://unfccc.int/ resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf (authorizing Clean Development Mechanism).
  12. See, e.g., Terrapass, http://www.terrapass.com (listing three sources of offsets: wind power, biomass, and industrial efficiency). See also CARBON TRADING, supra note 23, at 219-320 (identifying offset projects that did not generate environmental gains or raise social justice concerns).
  13. See, e.g., David J. Hayes, Voluntary Reduction Commitments and the World of Offsets, presented at American Law Institute/American Bar Association and Environmental Law Institute, Global Warming: Climate Change and the Law, Washington, D.C., 4-6 (Mar. 22, 2007) (discussing different forms of offsets) (copy on file with the author).
  14. See generally Robert R. Nordhaus & Kyle W. Danish, Assessing the Options for Designing a Mandatory U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program, 32 B.C. ENVTL. AFF. L. REV. 97 (2005) (examining cap-and-trade schemes).
  15. See, e.g., Jonathan Baert Wiener, Global Environmental Regulation: Instrument Choice in Legal Context, 108 YALE L.J. 677, 763 (1999) (examining emissions trading and other options for addressing global environmental concerns).
  16. See, e.g., Nordhaus & Danish, supra note 52, at 125 (noting that '[i]ncluding any but the very largest domestic landowners in a cap-and-trade program does not appear to be feasible currently.").
  17. See James Kanter, Guilt-Free Pollution. Or Is It?, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 20, 2007, at C1 (noting that the value of retail carbon offsets sold in Europe and North America increased from $6 million in 2005 to $110 million in 2006).
  18. An example of a non-profit retail-offset organization is The Carbon Fund. See Carbonfund.org, http://www.carbonfund.org; The Climate Trust, http://www.climatetrust.org. For-profit retail offset firms include Native Energy, a privately held renewable energy company. See Native Energy, http://www.nativeener- gy.com. Natsource is a corporate partnership between DuPont and Blue Source. See Natsource LLC, http://www.natsource.com/buycredits.
  19. Several possible exceptions exist regarding large-scale projects in the developed world. See, e.g., The Solar Electric Light Fund, http://self.org (generating offsets from installing photovoltaics in low-cost housing);
  20. Climate Trust, supra note 58 (selling offsets generated by making multi-unit housing more efficient);
  21. Bonneville Environmental Foundation, http://www.b-e-f.org (selling offsets derived from replacing traditional power sources with renewable energy, including those directed at low-income uses).
  22. See Lucy Sherriff, UK Ponders Personal Carbon Allowances, REGISTER, July 19, 2006, available at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/19/carbon_allowances/print.html. 564 THE GEORGETOWN INT'L ENVTL. LAW REVIEW [Vol. 20:553
  23. See e.g., CASHORE ET AL., supra note 49, at 88-126 (discussing Forestry Stewardship Council standards);
  24. Errol Meidinger, The Administrative Law of Global Private-Public Regulation: the Case of Forestry, 17 EUR. J. INT'L L. 47, 48-57 (2006);
  25. Petra Christmann & Glen Taylor, Globalization and the Environment: Determi- nants of Firm Self-Regulation in China, 32 J. INT'L BUS. STUD. 439, 452 (2001) (reporting results of empirical study finding correlation between firm environmental behavior and private standard adoption by trading partners).
  26. See CARBON TRADING, supra note 23, at 132, 147-48, 160, 188-89, 301, 310 (discussing offset fraud). For an example of a renewable energy certification organization, see Green-e Verification Process, http://www.green- e.org/getcert_re_veri.shtml (last visited Aug. 13, 2008) (noting that Green-e works with offset organizations to certify offsets).
  27. The Gold Standard is a Swiss-based NGO operating in the offset market. It offers emissions reductions projects that make "a genuine reduction in CO2 emissions as well as being beneficial to the host country and sustainable development." Gold Standard, Objectives, http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org/objectives.php (last accessed Aug. 12, 2008). See also CARBON TRADING, supra note 23, at 296.
  28. See, e.g., Michael P. Vandenbergh, The New Wal-Mart Effect: The Role of Private Contracting in Global Governance, 54 UCLA L. REV. 913, 944-56 (2007) (examining efficacy of supply-chain contracting and private environmental certification schemes).
  29. For other schemes see generally Jamieson, supra note 39, at 539.
  30. On intra-country inequalities see generally Albert Mumma & David Hodas, Designing a Global Post-Kyoto Climate Change Protocol That Advances Human Development, 20 GEO. INT'L ENVTL. L. REV. 619 (2008).
  31. See Vandenbergh & Ackerly, supra note 13, at 60-63.
  32. See Posner & Sunstein, supra note 1, at 1571 (noting that equity oriented carbon emissions reductions may not be the best way to achieve global welfare-based or fairness-based redistributive goals).
  33. See Ruth Greenspan Bell & Clifford Russell, Ill-Considered Experiments: The Environmental Consensus and the Developing World, HARV. INT'L REV., Winter 2003, at 20, 22, 25 (arguing that offset markets and emissions-trading schemes require adequate markets and institutional infrastructure that only the most developed nations currently possess).
  34. See CARBON TRADING, supra note 23, at 257.

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