WILL A GLOBAL WARMING AGREEMENT BE FAIR TO DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES

Fairness, or equity, is a major concern of developing countries in neg otiating a global agreement on greenhouse gas emission reductions. Ope rational versions of several equity concepts are analysed in the conte xt of tradeable permits. We find that a global least-cost mitigation s trategy is compatible with a variety of equity criteria. Moreover, the more cost-effective the global strategy, the greater the potential fo r North-South transfers. However, in many cases, the fairness of the f inal welfare outcomes differs significantly from the application of fi rst principles for allocating permits. At the same time, several dispa rate equity criteria yield similar inter-country welfare outcomes. Sti ll, some seemingly reasonable criteria are probably untenable from a p olitical standpoint.