On the Self-interested Use of Equity in International Climate Negotiations

by Andreas Lange, Andreas Löschel, Carsten Vogt and Andreas Ziegler

- We discuss self-interested uses of equity arguments in international climate negotiations. Using unique data from a world-wide survey of agents involved in international climate policy, we show that the perceived support of different equity rules by countries or groups of countries may be explained by their economic costs. Despite being self-interested, equity arguments may be perceived as being used for different reasons, for example, out of fairness considerations or in order to facilitate negotiations.

Lange, A., A. Löschel, C. Vogt and A. Ziegler (2009). "On the Self-interested Use of Equity in International Climate Negotiations." NBER Working Paper No. 14930, April 2009.