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| Source: New York Times |
As nations experience economic development, historically they follow a similar path toward development as the MEDCs. This includes an increase in fossil fuel burning for electricity, automobile use and therefore emissions, industrial production, and intensive agricultural production. The worlds two biggest developing economies, India and China, do not vary from this historical model.
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| Source: EPA |
They are amongst the highest carbon emitting countries in the world, and are projected to continue along this path into the future. With their large and growing populations and their rapid economic development, greenhouse gas emissions are only expected to increase.
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| Source: Stockholm Environment Institute |
Developing nations sometimes view it as their right to burn the necessary fossil fuels to achieve economic development. The most economically developed nations had opportunity to develop without restriction, so the questions is why can't they do the same?
Both India and China, however, are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol (a UN agreement on restrictions to greenhouse gas emissions) but did not sign on to any binding targets.
India's and China's populations are projected to continue to increase in the coming decades.
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| Source: bitsofscience.org |
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Curbing emissions whilst increasing economic development can be difficult and, more importantly, expensive, even for developed nations. Sometimes countries aren't interested in the difficulty and expense. While these countries are currently high emitters of greenhouse gases, they are relatively new on the scene and haven't been producing huge amounts of greenhouse gases for as long as the MEDCs. The question becomes, if greenhouse gases have an additive effect on global warming, shouldn't all historical emissions be added up and considered rather than simply emissions year on year?
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