Climate policy as a component of fair globalisation and sustainable poverty reduction

Industrialised countries are largely responsible for human-induced climate change in the modern era. By contrast, those worst affected by its adverse impacts are poor people in developing countries, who are also in a far worse position to adapt to changing environmental conditions. This huge problem of global justice is a major source of potential conflict. As such, it will be a critical focus of international negotiations on climate change. A global policy on climate change needs to confront this issue with a combination of two strategies: it must keep climate change within tolerable limits and, at the same time, develop strategies for coping with the impacts of climate change that is now unavoidable. In both cases, a fair sharing of burdens is a central precondition.