The principle of common, but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) is a fundamental principle of international environmental law. It is based on equity and fairness and requires all countries to take part in the fight against climate change, based on their differentiated position, circumstances and capabilities, historical contributions to climate change and future developmental needs.
Together with the evolution of the climate change regime, the form and the implementation of CBDR have been changed as well. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol operationalised the CBDR principle through determining two categories of countries (developed and developing countries), which proved to be problematic. That model was only binding for developed countries and did not take into consideration the changing circumstances of emerging countries, which were becoming some of the largest polutters on Earth. Because of the major failure of Kyoto Procotol, the State Parties to UNFCCC launched a process to draw up a new international protocol, which would be applicable to all of them. As a result, they adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015.
The Paris Agreement finalised the shift from the strict binary differentiation to a very diverse differentiation. While all countries are bound to participate in the combat of climate change, the agreement takes into condsideration the special circumstances of developing countries. Even though the Paris Agreement does not categorize countries into predetermined groups, the CBDR principle stays at the center of the climate regime on international level.
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