Politics of Global warming

Rich States failing to lead on emissions The Hindu of April 15, 2008 reported that according to top U N climate officials, developing countries, including China and India are unwilling to sign up to a new global climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol in 2012, because the rich world had failed to set a clear example in cutting carbon emissions. Dr. R. K. Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is of the view that too many rich countries including the U.S. A. had failed to take steps to convince the developing nations to sign up to a deal in Copenhagen next year that could help stabilize global emissions. He doubts whether any of the developing countries will make any commitments before they have seen the developed countries take a specific stand. In this matter, Germany has set a good example with significant investment in renewable energy, and U. K. is on track to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions as required under Kyoto. Analysts say that a new global deal needs to be agreed at the Copenhagen meeting for it to come into force by 2012 after ratification by the nations. Bush revises strategy to curb greenhouse gas emissions Economic Times of April 17, 08 quoted unnamed White House officials to report that President George Bush of U. S. A. is revising his stance on global warming and will propose a new target for stopping the growth of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. While not outlining a specific proposal, he will lay out a strategy for ‘realistic’ emission reduction targets, and ‘principles’ congress should follow in crafting global warming legislation. The new goal for curtailing greenhouse gas emissions is an attempt to avoid potential regulatory frameworks in the future which will involve heavy costs to industry and the economy. Bush administration has been a staunch opponent of a mandatory approach to reducing greenhouse gases, and prefers largely voluntary measures to address global warming. India’s Gas Emission Estimates India along with many other countries submitted their estimates of gas emissions to the United Nation’s Conference on Climate Change recently concluded at Bangkok. According to its report, India emitted 1,228,540 Gigagrams (Gg) or about 1228 million tonnes of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG). The CO2 emissions amounted to 817,023 Gg, about 65 % of the total GHG. Transportation sector alone contributed 79,880 Gg and land use changes including forestry contributed 37,675 Gg of CO2. The per capita GHG emission in India was 1.3 tonnes, far lower than the figures for U. S. A. and other developed countries. U N Climate Change Conference, Bangkok The recently concluded UN Climate change conference gas made it clear that market-oriented arrangements such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and emission trading instituted by Kyoto Protocol will continue beyond 2012. Some scientists have challenged the effectiveness of these measures and the emission estimates that have been put forth. The main point of contention was that UN policies have stressed the supply side of energy in developing countries, especially India and China. It was argued that while developing countries like US has done a lot to cut energy intensity (a unit of production/ amount of energy spent to produce it), India and China have not done enough and they must be brought on board and their emission limits capped. Demands were also made to increase investment in R & D, impose penalties like carbon tax, and delineate poverty reduction from the issue of controlling carbon emissions. (Source: The Hindu, Editorial, April 14, 2008) 17-4-08