Developed nations overconsuming carbon budget; very little left for countries like India: Govt

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

carbon budget, leaving countries like India with very little carbon space for the future, the government said on Thursday. Responding to a question by BJP MP CM Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Rajya Sabha that India is doing far more than its fair share to combat climate change.

Developed countries have consumed more than 80 per cent of the global carbon budget (since 1850) for limiting average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100, leaving countries like India with «very little carbon space for the future», the minister said. Rich nations are «eating into even this reduced entitlement» for India.

Despite this, India has chosen to walk its climate talk, conscious of the need to pioneer a sustainable development pathway for the entire globe, while attending to the needs and aspirations of its people, economy and society, he said. Climate science defines carbon budget as the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted for a given level of global warming (1.5 degrees Celsius in this case).

India's annual emissions are well below the three leading emitters — China, the US and the European Union — and its per capita emissions are much below the world average. The country accounts for less than 4 per cent of the global cumulative emissions from 1850 until 2019, Choubey told the Upper House.

At 2.4 tCO2e (tonne carbon dioxide equivalent), India's per capita greenhouse gas emission is far below the global average of 6.3 tCO2e, according to a report released last year by the United Nations Environment Programme. Per capita emission in the US (14 tCO2e) is far above the global average, followed by Russia (13 tCO2e), China (9.7 tCO2e), Brazil and Indonesia (about 7.5 tCO2e