China, India nullify CO2 emission cuts by developed nations

London, Jul 1 (PTI) Continued rise in carbon emissions
in China and India have "completely nullified" the reductions
achieved by industrialised nations, with the result that
emissions have remained constant in 2009, a report said
Thursday.

The global CO2 emissions have remained constant in
2009 despite the economic crisis slowing down the growth
trajectory of many countries, Netherlands Environment
Assessment Agency (PBL) said in a report.
The agency, which had identified that China's carbon
emissions in 2006 had overshot that of the US, making it the
world's largest polluter, attributed the 2009 trend to an
offset effect by China and India.
"... strong increases in CO2 emissions from
fast-growing developing countries, such as China and India,
have completely nullified CO2 emission reductions in the
industrialised world," the report said.
This is for the first time since 1992 that the
emissions of the main greenhouse gas have remained constant.
The PBL's report "No growth in total global CO2
emissions in 2009" is based on calculations on recent data
from sources including data on energy use from oil company
British Petroleum (BP), on cement production from the US
Geological Survey (USGS), and on the latest version of the
Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR).
The calculations show that emissions from fossil-fuel
combustion in the industrial countries have decreased by seven
per cent.
But in China and India, they actually increased by
nine and six per cent respectively.
The report trashes earlier projections by the
International Energy Agency (IEA) predicting an emission
decrease for 2009 of 2.6 per cent – the largest in 40 years.
While the industrialised nations seem to be on course
to achieve the Kyoto Protocol targets -- aided in part by the
meltdown -- the fast growing economies have been unable to
rein in emissions.
However, "a large part of production capacity that has
been suspended (due to the economic crisis), could be
re-employed as soon as the economy improves," it says.
Both China and India had pledged ambitious target cuts
ahead of last year's Copenhagen climate change summit.
While Beijing promised to curb its emission intensity
by 40 to 45 per cent by 2020, India announced a target
reduction of 20-25 per cent by 2020 on the 2005 levels.
The report also pointed out that although there have
been strong increases in emissions in countries such as China
and India, their average CO2 emissions per inhabitant, in
2009, were still below those in industrial countries.
"In India the emissions were 1.4 tonnes per person and
in China this was 6 tonnes, compared with 10 tonnes per person
in the Netherlands and 17 tonnes in the United States," said
the report.
Last year, the combined emission level of
industrialised nations was 10 per cent below 1990 levels, and
therefore well below the Kyoto target level.
"Together, the industrialised countries – except for
the US, which have not ratified the protocol – are on course
to achieve a combined average decrease in CO2 emissions of 5.2
per cent, between 2008 and 2012, compared with 1990 levels,"
it said. PTI WAJ
KAB