Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-1 (section)

==== 1.7.2.2 Equity and Representation: International Public Choice Across Time and Space ====

<div id="h3-5-siblings" class="h3-siblings"></div>

Equity perspectives highlight three asymmetries relevant for climate change ( [[#Okereke--2016|Okereke and Coventry 2016]] ; [[#Okereke--2017|Okereke 2017]] ) ( [[#1.4.6|Section 1.4.6]] ). ''Asymmetry in contribution'' highlights different contributions to climate change both in historical and current terms, and applies both within and between states as well as between generations ( [[#Caney--2016|Caney 2016]] ; [[#Heyward--2016|Heyward and Roser 2016]] ). ''Asymmetry in impacts'' highlights the fact that the damages will be borne disproportionately across countries, regions, communities, individuals and gender; moreover, it is often those that have contributed the least that stand to bear the greatest impact of climate change ( [[#IPCC--2014a|IPCC 2014a]] ; [[#Shi--2016|Shi et al. 2016]] ). ''Asymmetry in capacity'' highlights differences of power between groups and nations to participate in climate decision and governance, including the capacity to implement mitigation and adaptation measures.

If attention is not paid to equity, efforts designed to tackle climate change may end up exacerbating inequities among communities and between countries ( [[#Heffron--2018|Heffron and McCauley 2018]] ). The implication is that to be sustainable in the long run, mitigation involves a central place for consideration of justice, both within and between countries (Chapters 4 and 14). Arguments that the injustices following from climate change are symptomatic of a more fundamental structural injustice in social relations, are taken to imply a need to address the deeper inequities within societies ( [[#Routledge--2018|Routledge et al. 2018]] ).

Climate change and climate policies affect countries and people differently, with the poor likely to be more affected ( [[#1.6.1|Section 1.6.1]] ). Ideas of Just Transitions (outlined in [[#1.8.2|Section 1.8.2]] .) often have a national focus in the literature, but also imply that mitigation should not increase the asymmetries between rich and poor countries, implying a desire for transitions which seek to reduce (or at least avoid adverse) distributional affects. Thus, it comes into play in the timing of zero emissions (Chapters 3 and 14). International climate finance in which rich countries finance mitigation and adaptation in poor countries is also essential for reducing the asymmetries between rich and poor countries ( [[#1.6.3|Section 1.6.3]] and Chapter 15).

Equity across generations – the distribution between the present and future generations – also matters. One aspect is discounting ( [[#1.7.1|Section 1.7.1]] ). Another approach has been to study the burdens on each generation following from the transition to low-carbon economies ( [[#IPCC--2014a|IPCC 2014a]] Chapter 3) (Cross-Working Group Box 3 in Chapter 12). Suggestions include shifting more investments into ‘natural capital’, so that future generations will inherit less physical capital but a better environment, or financing mitigation efforts today using governmental debt redeemed by future generations ( [[#Heijdra--2006|Heijdra et al. 2006]] ; [[#Broome--2012|Broome 2012]] ; [[#Karp--2014|Karp and Rezai 2014]] ; [[#Hoel--2019|Hoel et al. 2019]] ).

<div id="1.7.3" class="h2-container"></div>

<span id="transition-and-transformation-processes"></span>