West pollutes, we pay

The unfairness of the rich nations’ demands to impose legally binding emission cuts on developing nations is held up starkly in a study that shows how the US has used up in 150 years nearly three times its carbon emission entitlement for 200 years.

According to a TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) study, the US is entitled to emit 30.95 Gigatons of carbon (GtC) into the atmosphere between 1850 and 2050, but it has already emitted 81.57 GtC by 2000. Similarly, the EU has crossed its entitlement by nearly 25 GtC and Russia by 7 GtC. On the other hand, while India is entitled to 112.12 GtC over the 200 year period, it has used only 6 GtC by 2005. China, with an entitlement of 136.24 GtC, used only 19.37 GtC.

The paper, “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development: An Indian Approach” allocated entitlements by the “per capita emissions” philosophy, which believes that every human being is entitled to an equal share of global atmospheric carbon sink. It gives each country’s share on the basis of its population. It’s been authored by Prof. T. Jayaratha, dean, School of Habitat Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, with colleagues Tejal Kanitkar and Mario D’Souza from the Centre for Science, Technology and Society, School of Habitat Studies.

The paper points out that to keep global warming in check, temperature rise should not exceed 2 degrees Celsius by 2050. That works out to more than 393 GtC in about half a century. The manner in which this “Carbon Budget” is divided across the globe, the paper states, should take into account the degree to which various countries have polluted the atmosphere in the past.

The future entitlements fir the US, EU and Russia work out to be -50 GtC, -24 GtC and -7 GtC respectively for the period 2000 – 2050. This means that even if they drop their emissions to ZERO, which is IMPOSSIBLE, developing nations would not be able emit the amount of carbon they are entitled to.

The paper points out that developing nations have a “Development Deficit” in terms of their industrial ad infrastructural capabilities, in the absence of which they are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The paper suggests a monetary compensation based on the difference between a country’s potential use of carbon space and the emissions the country is entitled to. By this logic, at a price of $ 20 for each ton of carbon emission that India doesn’t use, the developed world owes us $707 Billion!

In another research paper, the same authors have argued that this is a gross underestimation. It suggests that developed countries that have overused their atmospheric carbon sinks help developing nations build infrastructure for alternate sources of fuel that do not result in carbon emission, part from the compensation.

Table of countries with their emission entitlement and emissions till 2000

Country	Emission entitlement from 1850 – 2050 (GtC)	Emission till 2000 (GtC)
U.S.A.	30.85	81.57
E.U.	51.74	76.7
Russia	15.77	22.84
Canada	3.30	5.95
Australia	2.06	2.85
India	112.1	25.58
China	136.24	19.37

A Polluting Factory