Global warming.. KYOTO PROTOCOL.. US double standards exposed.

Oil and Coal are at the foundation of modern industrial revolution and one just cannot imagine how things would be without them. The US and most of the European nations over the last 2 centuries have immensely benefited from Industrial revolution and the developing nations led by China, India are now following the footsteps of these developed countries in their quest to become a developed country.

Kyoto Protocol: Scientists, journalists and policy makers began to foresee the negative impact of rapid Industrialization which in 1992 led to the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio. In 1994, at a meeting in Kyoto (Japan) an action plan was created -- the Kyoto Accord – setting greenhouse gas limits and reduction targets for participating nations.

The Kyoto Accord -- the most far-reaching environmental treaty in history -- was adopted by nearly all the world's nations on July 25, 2001. Despite overwhelming international support, the US termed it as "fatally flawed" agreement because it did not cap emissions from developing nations, including up-and-coming powerhouses like India and China. US has neither signed the protocol nor rejected it as of now.

As of January 2009, 183 parties have ratified the protocol, which was initially adopted for use on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and which entered into force on 16 February 2005. Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries agreed to reduce their collective green house gas (GHG) emissions by 5.2% from the level in 1990. National limitations range from the reduction of 8% for the European Union and others to 7% for the United States and 6% for Japan

Even Kyoto's strongest supporters acknowledge that its mandates are not ambitious enough. In 2012 the Kyoto Protocol to prevent climate changes and global warming runs out. To keep the process on the line there is an urgent need for a new climate protocol. In this regard Climate Conference in Copenhagen in Dec 2009 becomes essential for the world’s climate.

Let us look at the following statistics

Emissions per capita --- Annual CO2 Emissions -- % of Emissions
(Tonnes of CO2e) (thousands of metric tons)

China -------5.5 ----------6,103,493 ------------21.5 %
US-----------23.5-----------5,752,289 ------------20.2 %
European Union * -----------3,914,359 ------------13.8 %
Russia-------13.7-----------1,564,669 -------------5.5 %
India---------1.7 ----------1,510,351 -------------5.3 %

The main thing which needs to be considered is the emissions per capita (person). US per capita emissions are almost 14 times that of India’s. We began the liberalization process two decades ago and the US two centuries ago. Now US is a developed nation. We are developing. We still have 30 % of our population living below poverty line. Why should developing nations like India, China, African countries, South American countries pay the price for development for what US, Europe did and have been doing it for a very very long time? Hence the Kyoto protocol was right in giving concession to developing countries but US made a heavy weather of the same and did not sign the protocol. It exposed the double standards followed by US when it comes to development.

Hence this December meet at Copenhagen becomes crucial to get the US on board and set targets for all the countries and retain some form of concession for developing economies where 3/4th of the below poverty line people live.

In my next blog I would like to talk about some clean technologies which will immensely benefit to fight global warming.