China, India growing per capita emissions to appease domestic constituencies: US

China and India will play critical roles in determining the trajectory of temperature rise, a report by the US intelligence community said, adding that the two neighbours are the first and third largest emitting countries, respectively.

"Both are growing their total and per capita emissions, largely because of their reliance on cheap electricity generation from coal for economic growth, and because of their efforts to appease domestic constituencies who rely on the coal industry for jobs," the report said.

Climate change will increasingly exacerbate risks to U.S. national security interests as the physical impacts increase and geopolitical tensions mount about the global response to the challenge.