The Sovereign Emission Rights Framework: An international emissions trading regime without the hot air

The report argues that current international climate targets often rely on incoherent 'effort-sharing' models rather than ethical budget-sharing. It proposes a framework where the global greenhouse gas budget to 2050 is back-calculated from 1990 and divided among nations based on their 1990 share of the global population. Under this model, the EU would have a budget of 204 billion tonnes, of which 57% was used by 2012. The author advocates for international emissions trading of fossil and industrial CO2 to reconcile national responsibilities with cost-effective abatement opportunities. For the EU, the report suggests a domestic trajectory aligned with the 2050 Low Carbon Roadmap (-25% by 2020, -40% by 2030, -60% by 2040, and -80% by 2050) as a minimum unilateral commitment.

• The proposed Sovereign Emission Rights Framework suggests that the global greenhouse gas budget to 2050 should be back-calculated from 1990 and divided among nations according to their share of the global population in that year.
• Under the proposed framework, the EU27 is awarded a 60-year budget of 204 billion tonnes of CO2e, representing 9% of the global budget; as of 2012, the EU had already consumed approximately 57% of this allocation.
• To maintain a cost-effective global pathway to 2°C, the report suggests Europe should unilaterally commit to domestic emissions reductions of -25% by 2020, -40% by 2030, -60% by 2040, and -80% by 2050.
• The author argues that 'effort-sharing' models are flawed because they treat historical emissions as a moral baseline, which can lead to the creation of 'hot air'—excessive emissions rights based on exaggerated reduction difficulties.
• International emissions trading should be limited to CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and large industrial processes due to the difficulty of measuring land use practices and the effectiveness of separate regulations for other industrial gases.

APA

Morris, D., & Watson, L. (2013). The Sovereign Emission Rights Framework: An international emissions trading regime without the hot air. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/The_Sovereign_Emissions_Rights_Framework_2013.pdf

Chicago

Morris, Damien, and Laurence Watson. The Sovereign Emission Rights Framework: An international emissions trading regime without the hot air. Ember, 2013. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/The_Sovereign_Emissions_Rights_Framework_2013.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Morris |first1=Damien |last2=Watson |first2=Laurence |title=The Sovereign Emission Rights Framework: An international emissions trading regime without the hot air |publisher=Ember |date=26 June 2013 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/The_Sovereign_Emissions_Rights_Framework_2013.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{morris2013sovereign, author = {Morris, Damien and Watson, Laurence}, title = {{The Sovereign Emission Rights Framework: An international emissions trading regime without the hot air}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2013}, month = jun, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2020/03/The_Sovereign_Emissions_Rights_Framework_2013.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }