NEW DELHI: The rich countries, which were mandated to cut down on their emissions, are instead on an upward curve that could lead the world to tipping point. The global warming causing greenhouse gas emissions of the rich nations have increased by 9.9% between 1990-2006.
The data released by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) comes as a wake-up call to the world with scientists having warned earlier that global emissions needed to be cut by as much as 30-40% from 1990 levels in order to stabilise the temperatures at a bearable point by 2020.
"The data has revealed the doublespeak of rich nations that have been asking India, China and other developing countries to undertake reduction in their already low emission levels even as their own emissions continue to rise," a senior Indian official said.
India's per capita emissions are almost one-twentieth of the US and one-tenth of EU.
The global climate treaty divides the countries into two sets. One set is called the Annex 1 or industrialised countries, which are responsible for most of the accumulated GHG emissions and have been asked to reduce their emissions by 6-8% by 2012. The rest, such as Indian and China, are called non-Annex 1 countries in UN jargon.
Eastern European countries, where the economic meltdown had led to reduced emissions by default, are called `economies in transition' and are taken as a separate sub-category within the Annex 1 list.
The worst offenders in the rich nations list turns out to be Turkey, whose emissions increased by 95% in the 16-year period. Australia's emissions increased by 27.3% and of the US by 14.4%.
However, some industrialised countries have reduced their emissions, such as UK by 15.1% and Germany by 18.2%.
While EU has contended that at least 15 of its members could collectively meet its first phase targets, the battle between nations is heating up with the international panel of scientists demanding much stronger cuts over the next phase (starting from 2012) in order to stabilise temperatures.
The report comes ahead of the meetings of more than 100 countries in Poland in early December to resolve how the emission cuts and its burden should be shared.
The rich nations have been demanding that India and China should also undertake some form of emission cuts whereas the developing nations have been adamant that the accumulated and historical burden lies with the rich nations, which still continue to belch out much more pollution every year. They warn that even though the industrial nations are to blame, it's the poorest in countries like India that could suffer the most if climate change continued unchecked.
