The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework

The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework, devised by SEI and Ecoequity, offers solutions to the climate crisis while supporting development in the South.

The framework report, titled The Right to Development in a Climate Constrained World, is authored by Sivan Kartha and Paul Baer and Tom Athanasiou of EcoEquity, supported by Christian Aid, the Heinrich-Böll Foundation and SEI core funds.

Rich must pay the most
The report argues that the emerging climate crisis must be seen against the backdrop of an ongoing development crisis, and that it is unacceptable and unrealistic to expect those struggling against poverty to focus their limited resources on averting climate change. And it draws the necessary conclusions: those who are wealthier and have produced higher levels of emissions must take on the bulk of the costs of a global “emergency program” of mitigation and adaptation.

Developing countries should still curb their emissions, but the global consuming class – the industrialized world and elites within developing countries – must cover the costs and provide the resources, the report states.

SEI contacts: Sivan Kartha

Selected publications
Second Edition of the Greenhouse Development Rights book now available for download. (December 2008)

For a detailed and yet short explanation of Greenhouse Development Rights, see the Executive Summary of the second edition.

Download latest GDRs slides (reflecting the 2nd edition reference trajectories and definitions). The presentation is of course a moving, evolving target, but this is a good snapshot, which was finalized September, 2008.

Calculations for the Greenhouse Development Rights Calculator
Eric Kemp-Benedict (Sept. 2008)