Shared Responsibility or Individual Liability: The Role of China and the United States in Global Climate Governance

Abstract

This paper argues that the global climate governance is not possible through a dichotomy between shared responsibility and individual liability. A purely shared approach would be problematic in that unequal states would be treated as if they had equal responsibilities, and thus not account for emissions, wealth and capacity. One that is strictly reactive and only seeks to ‘blame' may prove both legally and politically impractical in that it would not foster the cooperation required at this time. A more defensible policy would be one that had a combination of: shared responsibility to address the climate crisis, differentiated responsibility to allocate burdens, and individual accountability if the states don't take the policy steps that are mandated by law.