ABSTRACT
It is no longer seriously disputed that, in the face of climate change, carbon emissions must be reduced. In contemporary debates, however, the question of how responsibilities should be differentiated has been all but eclipsed by contestation over how emissions rights should be apportioned. This chapter focuses on fundamental normative issues rather than on the question of what policies are likely to be adopted in the foreseeable future. Some might think there is an all but unbridgeable gulf between the ideal norm of an equal right to ecological space and any feasible prospects for moving closer toward global environmental justice. The present acceptance of the "grandfathering principle" in assigning global responsibilities for emissions reductions is justified by its proponents on the grounds that the high emitters are locked into their carbon dependence and that any attempt to reduce their emissions too abruptly would be catastrophic for them.
