India puts heat on developed nations
Mahatma Gandhi said the “earth provides enough to satisfy everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed”; little did he know his words would one day be applied to the politics of greenhouse gas emissions.
When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh revealed India’s new climate change action plan on Monday, he said the spirit of Gandhi’s famous warning must underpin the world’s response to global warming. “Every citizen of this planet must have an equal share of the planetary atmospheric space,” Mr Singh said.
The plan commits India to gradually shifting away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. But it also demands that big emitters such as Australia and the US take steps to ensure that per capita emissions move into line with the global norm.
India has very low greenhouse gas emissions per person, but its large population means its contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is already significant and set to rise. Despite recent strong economic growth, about half the population — more than 500 million people — does not yet have access to electricity.
Mr Singh pledged that India’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions would not exceed emissions of the developed countries and demanded justice in the international response to climate change.
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