Moving from the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’ to ‘equitable access to sustainable development’ will aid international climate change negotiations.

As part of our series on the Dahrendorf Symposium, Marcus Hedahl writes on international climate change negotiations. He notes that negotiations were initially carried out under the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’, in which the developed world should bear the bulk of the responsibility for tackling climate change due to its historic emissions and greater financial resources. He argues that a potential shift away from this focus toward a new principle of ‘equitable access to sustainable development’ may provide a better structure for both developed and developing world countries to deal with the issue.