Justice and post-2012 global climate change mitigation architecture

Abstract

This article considers how justice relates to and informs the structure of international climate change mitigation2 architectures under which burdens are assumed by individual states. The argument can be made that the structure of the current global architecture has, to a substantial extent, been determined in the domain of realpolitik, not justice. In the domain of realpolitik, states seek to maximise their national self-interest based on practical rather than ethical considerations. The more powerful the state, the more able it is to stay outside global regulatory systems if its perception of its national self-interest deems this appropriate. But if this is so, are considerations of justice relevant to the shape of future global climate change mitigation regimes? This article argues that they are.