Countries start to explain how their climate contributions are fair

The analysis of 163 INDCs reveals that countries frequently use 'small share' of global emissions and per capita emissions as equity indicators for mitigation, while vulnerability is a primary argument for adaptation. However, most equity claims are unsubstantiated or based on internal expertise, with a lack of independent evidence or consideration of the aggregate global impact of these individual approaches.

• Countries used various indicators to justify equity in mitigation, with the most frequent being a 'small share' of global emissions and per capita emissions. When using a consistent data set, the emissions of countries claiming a 'small share' actually total 24% of annual global emissions.
• Adaptation is mentioned in 89% of INDCs, with two-thirds of those using vulnerability as an argument for equity and over half quantifying impacts.
• Most equity claims in the INDCs lack rigorous support, often relying on in-country experts rather than independent evidence, and none of the analyzed documents consider the global consequences if their specific equity approach were applied to all countries.

APA

Winkler, H., Höhne, N., Cunliffe, G., Kuramochi, T., April, A., & Casas, M. J. D. V. (2017). Countries start to explain how their climate contributions are fair. NewClimate Institute. https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/countries-start-to-explain-how-their-climate-contributions-are-fair-more

Chicago

Winkler, Harald, Niklas Höhne, Guy Cunliffe, Takeshi Kuramochi, Amanda April, and Maria Jose de Villafranca Casas. Countries start to explain how their climate contributions are fair. NewClimate Institute, 2017. https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/countries-start-to-explain-how-their-climate-contributions-are-fair-more.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Winkler |first1=Harald |last2=Höhne |first2=Niklas |last3=Cunliffe |first3=Guy |last4=Kuramochi |first4=Takeshi |last5=April |first5=Amanda |last6=Casas |first6=Maria Jose de Villafranca |title=Countries start to explain how their climate contributions are fair |publisher=NewClimate Institute |date=7 November 2017 |url=https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/countries-start-to-explain-how-their-climate-contributions-are-fair-more |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{winkler2017countries, author = {Winkler, Harald and Höhne, Niklas and Cunliffe, Guy and Kuramochi, Takeshi and April, Amanda and Casas, Maria Jose de Villafranca}, title = {{Countries start to explain how their climate contributions are fair}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2017}, month = nov, url = {https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/countries-start-to-explain-how-their-climate-contributions-are-fair-more}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }