Utilitarian benchmarks for emissions and pledges promote equity, climate and development.

ABSTRACT: Tools are needed to benchmark carbon emissions and pledges against criteria of equity and fairness. However, standard economic approaches, which use a transparent optimization framework, ignore equity. Models that do include equity benchmarks exist, but often use opaque methodologies. Here we propose a utilitarian benchmark computed in a transparent optimization framework, which could usefully inform the equity benchmark debate. Implementing the utilitarian benchmark, which we see as ethically minimal and conceptually parsimonious, in two leading climate-economy models allows for calculation of the optimal allocation of future emissions. We compare this optimum with historical emissions and initial nationally determined contributions. Compared with cost minimization, utilitarian optimizati

SUBMITTER: Budolfson MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10795961 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature