Climate Change, by Anda Stancu Climate Change-1 | Page 4

The ‘ability to pay’ principle entails the burdens of climate change should payed
by the wealthiest, not putting an emphasis on who did the harm, but rather
putting an emphasis on resolving the problem. This principle focuses on the
future, rather than the past, as the ‘polluter pays’ principle entailed. (Caney,
2010). Similarly, like the ‘polluter pays’ principle, Caney (2010) finds some
challenges with this principle as well: (1) the advantaged think it is not fair for
them to bear the burden for something they did not cause, the point being here
that no matter what, someone will still pay even if they are not to blame. For
example, if either the wealthy or the poor pay, some will still be paying for
something they did not cause, and if no action shall be taken, the burden falls to
the future generations, which will also be paying for something that is not their
fault. In each case, someone will be treated unfairly. (2) In the second
challenge, Caney states that ignoring history is unreasonable. However, there is
a response for this challenge. We can recognize two groups of the advantaged:
those who became wealthy by contributing to climate change, and those who
became wealthy by not contributing to climate change. In this case, the burden
should be borne by the first. (3) The third challenge suggests that the wealthy
who use clean development, should not have any responsibility for paying,
since their clean technology did not contribute to climate change. However,
some believe that it is our moral duty to help, even if we played no part in
contributing to the problem, thus the burden falling on the ones who are able to
help. (4) The fourth challenge that Caney talks about is that some critics might
say, that climate change responsibilities should be distributed not to those who
came by their wealth in a way that endangers the Earth’s climate, but rather to
those who came by their wealth in an unjust way; meaning that the latter should
have the responsibility to prevention and adaptation. (ibid).