It is said that the per capita emissions of carbon dioxide from fuel combustion in the US stands at about 20 tonnes per year — in China, it is 4 tonnes and in India, 1.1 tonnes. There may be other ways of looking at the sum total of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases giving somewhat different figures, but the net pattern will be the same. The developed countries are primarily responsible for the greenhouse that we are making this planet into. Not surprisingly, NGOs and governments have been busy pointing fingers at the developed countries and more so the US. On their part the developed countries have been delaying and avoiding any discussion of substance.

There are two aspects to a potential international greenhouse related agreement at Bali. On the one hand it has to do with getting maximum first mover advantage early on before the negotiation stage is reached. On the part of developing countries such as India this will be achieved if we get an international consensus on emissions on the basis of a common per capita benchmark for each country. We will also argue that this is the only fair basis for an international agreement on emission reduction. On the part of developed countries, posturing will be on the basis of some percentage reduction from current levels, their argument being that per capita benchmarks are not feasible. The second aspect is less talked about but perhaps as important — the speed with which we come to some agreement on reducing emissions. The problem, of course, is that the more the posturing the longer will it take for an international consensus reached.

... contd.