Climate Change Approaches: China, India and the Rest of the West
As Gordon Brown’s tour or India and China continues, the British government has levelled criticism at India’s lack of commitment to dealing with climate change.
British Environment Secretary Phil Woolas recently drew a comparison of the two emerging economies, describing the Chinese Central Government as “part of the solution and not part of the problem“ whilst criticising India for not putting “its shoulder to the wheel”.
These comments reflect the two very different approaches taken by the Indian and Chinese government’s.
Seeking international credibility, cash rich and unburdened by slow democratic decision making processes, China has already made impressive inroads into the climate change battle. China became the first developing nation to formalise plans for tackling climate change with the release of their National Action Plan on Climate Change in 2007. Although China will soon lead the world in Co2 emissions it is likely that China will also lead the world in renewable energy production.
In contrast, India has taken little direct responsibility, often claiming that western governments created the problem so western governments must solve it. In support of this argument the Indian government is keen to point out that their per capita emissions are substantially lower than those of western nations, and that by this standard they are not a major emitter.
This raises important issues in the use of per capita statistics which are frequently cited in climate change discussions; The fact that developing nations have low per-capita emissions as a result wide scale poverty amongst large sections of their population is not a sustainable argument in consideration of worldwide development goals. And the use of this argument in turn by western nations doesn’t wash since applying a western standard of living to a rapidly increasing population is beyond even the most optimistic forecast of global resource availability.
The only long term solution is to manage the global average as a whole, applying western technology and leadership to set a real example for doing more with less. At the same time, developing nations must shoulder some responsibility and learn from our past mistakes by managing their expansion with sustainability in mind. We can only build a better world by working together, not by quoting shady statistics.
However, with the UK government’s patchy record on meeting efficiency targets and lack of general consensus in the west, we are doubtful that Mr Brown will have a strong case for further argument..
Sources: Xinhaunet, The Guardian
“We can only build a better world by working together, not by quoting shady statistics.”
Sadly, that’s not the way the world works. As with most systems, change emerges more often from struggle and competition.
The idea that we can work together to solve our ideas has one major flaw as far as I can see: patents.
I think removing economic barriers to technology transfer is essential to deal with climate/environment issues, but it’s very complicated. And interestingly, rarely features in debates about climate.
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm7_e.htm
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/FreeTrade/WTO.asp#Trade-RelatedAspectsofIntellectualPropertyRightsTRIPS
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/trips10-cn.htm