The developed world must pay

The New Indian Express Last Updated : 31 May 2011 12:56:05 AM IST
According to the International Energy Agency, last year a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide was poured into the atmosphere — a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009. If emissions this year rise at the same pace as last year, the world will exceed 32 gigatonnes of CO2 in energy-related emissions alone in a single year. This is the level the IEA had expected emissions to reach by 2020, indicating that the growth of CO2 emissions has been much quicker than expected. Unless these rises can be turned to reductions within a few years, the world will soon be well beyond what scientists say is the limit of safety.
Coming on the eve of a crucial meeting of the world governments on climate change at Bonn, Germany, next week, this should serve as a walk-up call. The chances that this will happen, however, are slim. The glimmer of hope that had appeared at Cancun last year, when emissions-cutting targets were firmed up and financial commitments from rich countries to the poorer ones flesh out, seems to be vanishing. This was borne out at last week’s summit of the G8 group of leading industrialised nations, where Russia, Japan and Canada reportedly said they would refuse to join a second round of carbon cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
Unfortunately, industrialised countries, which have a historic responsibility for climate change challenges the world faces today, seem to be dragging their feet. Despite paying lip service to the cause, they seem reluctant to either cut their emissions or fund the developing countries for green energy. The Green Climate Fund proposed at the UN-led Cancun meet six months ago — to which wealthy nations were supposed to contribute $100bn each year to help developing countries adapt to the challenges of climate change — has proved to be a non-starter. It is time developed counties took ambitious actions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and also provided adequate financing and transfer of technology to help developing counties effectively address the impact of climate change.