The formula: Targets based on the ratio of national carbon emissions to GDP. Countries might be asked to reduce the “carbon intensity” of their economies by some percentage. In 2002, the Bush administration set a target for the US of improving its “carbon intensity” by 18 per cent in the coming decade. This sounds impressive, except that most of the industrialised world, including the US, has been on a similar trajectory of declining carbon intensity for decades.
Advantages: A clear incentive for moving to clean technologies while not penalising countries that are efficient at using carbon emissions to create wealth.…
