Coal-ition partners

While rivals in most other spheres, India and China find common ground on climate change negotiations

- REKHA DIXIT

Like-minded and China are not usually put in the same sentence when speaking from the Indian context. Isn’t China our headache number one? But, when it comes to climate change negotiations, India and China are more together than against. The two Asian giants form the main force behind the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC), which has been fighting for a greater share of the world’s remaining carbon budget. More often than not, India and China together face up to the bullying tactics of the global north, or the developed countries.

India and China are both ambitious countries, seeking a larger share of the global pie in almost every sphere. While there are great differences in their political outlook, and even in the way the rest of the world regards them, when it comes to development needs, the two are on the same page and seen so by the world. “The top emitters,” is how the dragon and elephant are referred to by the developed world. The truth though is that US is second to China in overall emissions among independent countries; India comes third.

This, however, is only partly true. When it comes to per capita emissions of carbon dioxide, India’s share is a very small 1.9 tonne per person annually, and China’s is only 7.38. The top per capita emitters are the oil-rich Middle East nations, led by Qatar (37.29). The next group of high per capita emitters is the developed west, with Canada (18.5) and the US (18.6) leading. Even South Korea has higher per capita emissions than China, whose figures are more on par with the European Union (7.16).