India and China have refused to take part in reaching 50% of their level of greenhouse gas emission by 2050 which is a shame. India and China contribute about 25% of the global greenhouse gas emissions while the developed countries together are at 40%.
While the developed countries plan to reduce their current emissions by 50% by 2050, India and China are looking at a moderate target of reduction. Why is this? Both India and China are young independent countries with young developing economies. The Industrial Revolution which took place in the west in the late 1800s – early 1900s allowed the West to build their current economies utilizing their technological knowhow, government intervention or rather encouragement, scientific innovation and the raw materials and labor of their colonies at the time. Since then, there has been technological improvements in production processes, transportation, economies of scale, mechanization of industrial processes etc etc much of which has been developed and implemented in the West and is only now spreading to the East.
The point is that most of the so-called industrialized nations after taking the lead in developing all the present industrial innovations are now focusing on adding value in terms of strategic thinking and other value-added processes. Developing economies like India and China are now picking up the slack by accepting the contracted jobs of creating manufactured goods, textiles, plastics etc etc for the west and so their high energy needs are required to fuel two things : The first, the increased industrial activity to meet the demand of products from the West and from their internal economies and the second, to meet the consumption needs of a rapidly growing middle-class segment.
But, more importantly, the point here is that what’s applicable to developed countries may not be rigidly applicable to both India and China. Both these countries are densely and heavily populated and while India is a developing country, China may be regarded as more developed in some respects than India. The socio-economic and political issues need deep understanding in both these countries.
Today, both these countries have growing GDPs and have reached levels which were not even dreamed of in the past. One of the spin-off effect is the consumption of oil for which both the countries are under heavy pressure and criticism, from various quarters. In so far as India is concerned, because of the rapidly growing GDP and the related growth in the industrial and other oil-consuming sectors and also because of lack of immediate or medium-term energy solutions being visible, it’s very unlikely that they will seek alternative (and expensive) energy solutions to fuel their growth sectors for the next few decades at least.
It’s important that the greenhouse gas emissions issue needs to be viewed in context. Developed economies will find it easier to reduce their emissions as newer technologies are on the way to replace the outdated energy generating systems in place. New economies, in contrast, are still finding their ground.
It’s easy for the (3-4% growth GDP) west to tell China and India (7-8% growth GDP) to reduce their emissions now. Would they have done the same back in the day when their economies were building up?
We should be conscious of the damage we’re doing to the environment and the steps proposed are steps taken in the right direction. More needs to be done however – perhaps some alternative sources of energy to help fuel these growth economies, compensation perhaps – still too early for the right answer…
