Two Arguments Against Historical Responsibility for Climate Change

Abstract

The paper argues, first, that there is a dearth of data on pre-1990 emissions, such that the assumption about historical emissions, on which the claim about historical responsibility depends, cannot be made out; and, second, that the countries in which the Industrial Revolution began committed no injustice; on the contrary, they invented modern economic development and spread it to the rest of the world. The paper is an extended version of the actual book chapter.

Keywords: climate change, historical responsibility, historical emissions, Industrial Revolution