ABSTRACT
An alternative mitigation strategy to the ecological footprint or fair shares approaches is the polluter pays principle. This principle is built on the premise that we have a negative duty to compensate others for the harm we have caused to others. This chapter separates out interconnected issues of polluter pays principle to highlight the broad attractiveness of the polluter pays principle for its supporters and to raise serious doubts about its feasibility as a "solution" to the significant problems posed from climate change. A rival to the polluter pays principle is what is called the beneficiary pays principle. This principle accepts the criticism directed towards the historical polluter pays principle which says it is too difficult to know with sufficient provision how much past generations have polluted and which now requires compensation. A popular version of the polluter pays principle among political philosophers is Thomas Pogge’s Global Resources Divided.
