4.3 Setting a personal target – contraction and convergence
If you are concerned about global climate change, you should set yourself a target. However, it is far from clear how to fix the right level. One school of thought, based around ‘contraction and convergence’, suggests that if everyone moves globally towards 2 tCO2e, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere might stabilise around 550 ppm (parts per million), which could lead to a 2 °C rise in average temperatures. By all countries having the same target, this would be inherently fair. But, increasingly, this figure of 550 ppm is seen as too high, with the instability of climate caused at that level unacceptable. A new figure of 350 ppm has been proposed, but this would mean eliminating substantially all anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.
The Global Commons Institute has information on contraction and convergence.
The 350.org campaigns for a lower target concentration of atmospheric CO2.
Activity 4
What arguments would you use to justify the UK having a higher per capita carbon footprint than any other country? If you were in charge of climate negotiations, how would you try to divide up a declining carbon cake fairly?
4.2 International carbon footprints