International emission inequality: abatement on a per capita basis with rewards

Greenhouse gas emission inequalities between and within five income groups of countries are computed. The revealed dominant emission inequality between the high income groups and the low and middle income groups and its likely intensification by an internationally uniform abatement rate constitute a case for using per capita figures in analyzing countries’ unilateral and internationally cooperative emission abatements. The analysis suggests that the cooperative expected net benefit maximizing emission abatement can be smaller than the unilateral abatement for weak countries and also for lower and upper middle income economies with high ability and inclination to politically and economically reward other countries.