Unequal Skies, Shared Destiny: Bridging the Political and Financial Rift in Global Climate Governance

Why do populations and states that contributed least to climate change often face the greatest harm and the weakest financial capacity to respond?

The paper examines the divide between the geography of emissions and the geography of climate harm, relating this inequality to fragmented institutions and unequal influence within global climate governance.

It develops a policy framework organised around financing, South–South cooperation, monitoring, and accountability. The proposal remains part of a working paper and is not an implemented institution.

The paper argues that climate governance should be evaluated through distributive justice, representation, and institutional coordination rather than voluntary finance alone.

• Distributive justice
• Institutional fragmentation
• Discourse power
• Common but differentiated responsibilities

A conceptual and policy-oriented paper drawing on published emissions data, economic projections, and scholarship on climate justice and institutional design.

The project is global rather than a single-case study and uses cross-national patterns of emissions, vulnerability, and financial capacity as contextual evidence.

The paper draws on published data and scholarship, including research on carbon inequality and climate-related economic impacts.

Working paper. It is not presented as a peer-reviewed publication.

1. Burke, M., Hsiang, S. M., & Miguel, E. (2015). Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production.
2. Chancel, L. (2022). Global Carbon Inequality 1990–2019.
3. Ostrom, E. (2009). A Polycentric Approach for Coping with Climate Change.
4. Roberts, J. T., & Parks, B. C. (2007). A Climate of Injustice.

Lu, Junfu. 2026. “Unequal Skies, Shared Destiny.” Working paper, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.