The book investigates the role of equity in shaping the post 2020 climate change regime. Equity is a central element to the climate change problem, it corresponds to the complexity of the problem and it attempts to address the inherent unfairness of the problem: it is multifaceted by addressing several issues. A call for an equitable climate change regime ties together a group of issues that invoke equity: firstly, equity comes to the fore to protect the most vulnerable people from adverse effects of global warming; secondly to provide distributive justice among the present generations, as well as the future generations. Thirdly, equity is invoked to ensure an inclusive and transparent negotiation process. In the context of climate change regime equity has been interpreted synonymously with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR/RC). This has put the burden of mitigation obligations exclusively upon developed countries as those historically responsible for CO2 emissions. The adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement has challenged the common understanding of equity in the climate change regime.This book aims to find an answer to the following questions: How has equity been defined in the context of the Paris Agreement? What is the difference between the concept of equity and the abstract concept of justice? The book firstly focuses on the theory of law on the concept of equity in public international law and environmental law. From there the research focuses on the role played by equity in shaping the Climate Change Regime. It tracks the principle from its first formulation in United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to its most recent adoption in the Paris Agreement. The book is particularly interested in the development of the transparency framework being the most useful tool for assessing the fairness of Parties’ contribution as well as in the establishment of the global stocktaking mechanism. In order to do that, the book looks at the contribution form of submissions, inputs and informal papers handed by the major players US, EU, India, and China- to the Ad Hoc Working Group for the Paris Agreement (APA) which is in charge of releasing the rules for the implementation of the Agreement in 2020.
