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Emissions vs people is a good metric if you think that every person should get an emissions budget. If pollution externalities are inevitable, it's most just to
by pradn 8y ago
Emissions vs people is a good metric if you think that every person should get an emissions budget. If pollution externalities are inevitable, it's most just to require that a Nepali and an American have the same emissions budget. Why does an American get to pollute way more?
- moultano 8y agoIt's equivalent to saying each person should get a production budget, that every person in the world should have an equal income.
- pradn 8y agoIf you're more efficient, you can produce more with the same emissions budget.
- perl4ever 8y agoIf person A drives a truck, and person B writes code at their desk, it doesn't make sense to say we have to equalize their carbon usage, whether per person or per $ of income or output. Some activities inherently use more fossil fuels than others. Making them all use equal amounts is not a reasonable goal, just because we are trying to reduce them all.
- pradn 8y agoIt's not about comparing two individuals, but national budgets. One country shouldn't be able to pollute 10x another country without repercussions.
- perl4ever 8y agoWhy not? You are assuming each country does basically the same stuff, rather than a divergent set of stuff they do best. If you drive people around in a car for a living, and I don't, it's palpably unfair to hold us to the same carbon budget. If you weren't driving me, I'd be driving you! There is no reason the industry in one country should be exactly as carbon intensive as that in another, any more than the IT sector should be the same relative size, or the steelmaking sector should be the same.