With less than five months left until the IPCC meets in Copenhagen, countries and politicians around the world are attempting to either stake their claims or make their excuses when it comes to climate change legislation. In recent months Barrack Obama and Gordon Brown have been pushing their green credentials both at home and on the international stage. Having recently concluded a moderately successful G8 summit both leaders are keen to see the world community take greater action on global warming and CO2 emissions. However, getting an international agreement on a subject as controversial as climate change will not be easy and it will require a vast amount of horse trading and statistical jiggery-pokery. The majority of developing nations such as China and India are already balking at the idea of having to regulate CO2 emissions. Eastern nations feel that any international agreement on emissions is a veiled attempt by the West to halt Eastern nations from growing and progressing into industrialised states. In a certain degree they are right. For years the West has lead the world in manufacture and production, but now it is being supplanted by cheaper goods constructed within the Eastern powerhouses of India and China. As the free market expands and demand from the West increases so does the industrial development of the East. It is this process which is currently causing climate scientists so much alarm. India’s CO2 emissions are estimated to increase by 50% over the next 20 years due to rapid commercialism and industrialisation caused by the West’s demand for cheap products.
However, the legislation is not directly intended to halt the evolution and development of other countries; instead it is aimed at dealing with a much larger global problem. It is true that the West is largely responsible for the effects of global warming due to its early industrialisation, but that does not negate India and China’s responsibility to the world and its’ people. In a recent announcement the Indian government demanded that industrialised nations pay 0.5 % of the countries GDP to help developing nations invest in cleaner renewable sources of energy. In an interview the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said “What we are witnessing today is the consequence of over two centuries of industrial activity and high consumption lifestyles in the developed world. They have to bear this historical responsibility.” Which is true, the West does have a responsibility to help the developing world industrialise and become greener at the same time. The West has always been unwilling to share patented technologies with other countries, but at some point countries like America and Britain have to dismiss the potential financial loss of giving this technology away to developing countries and focus upon the bigger picture of global survival.
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