Everyone agrees on the need for cutting down greenhouse-gas emissions so long as they don’t have to pay for it. And thus it was always clear that consensus on this issue would be elusive, as the failure of the Copenhagen meeting in 2009 showed. Since then, there has been progress, notably at Cancun, but the developed world and the developing nations have differing perceptions about their role in containing climate change. While the US has kept itself out of the ambit of such pacts, India, China and Brazil have been asking for equitable access to the resources for sustainable development.

Under the new pact, both India and China have agreed to a legally binding commitment to cut down greenhouse-gas emissions. The US, too, will now be bound by the agreement, a change that bodes well for the environment since these three nations together account for nearly half of the world’s carbon emission. The new formula also brings in, for the first time, a roadmap for a pact on legally binding cuts on greenhouse-gas emissions. It will take more time for the pact to be finalised, and till then there will continue to be many negotiations, even as the world finds ways to balance the imperatives of economic growth with social responsibility towards the environment.