Sovereign States in the Greenhouse: Does Jurisdiction Speak against Consumption- Based Emissions Accounting?

The paper investigates the significance of jurisdiction for the choice of accounting method of greenhouse gases. Making use of the distinction between retrospective and prospective responsibility, it assesses three different arguments from jurisdiction against consumption-based emissions accounting. It argues that one of these arguments, the effectiveness argument, provides a strong potential reason against consumptionbased emissions accounting. To the extent jurisdictional control is needed to reduce some emissions, and production-based accounting incentivizes states to reduce these emissions, there is a reason of environmental effectiveness for sticking with production-based accounting.