At the UN meet on climate change held in New York last week, China and India kept a low profile. The meet was meant to set the tone for the big bang conclave in Paris in December 2015. Paris is expected to draw up another pact on emission cuts to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which lapsed in December 2012. China and India should have played a bigger role in New York, being two of the top emerging economies and, yes, among the top five emitters of greenhouse gases as well. They must be in the fray for hammering out a workable future plan.

As a developing country, can India brush aside emission reduction? Scientists have claimed that in 2013, India’s carbon emissions grew by 5.1 per cent, the highest for any country, even though its emissions make up just 6.5 per cent of the world’s total, against 28 per cent in the case of China and 14 per cent in the case of the US. While it is true that some 400 million Indians do not have access to electricity it does not imply that the sky is the limit for India’s greenhouse emissions. India’s per capita statistics conceal inequalities in access to energy — between the rural and the urban, and between income groups. For instance, about 70 per cent of rural households have access to electricity, and within that only 40 per cent among socially and economically backward groups.

The well-to-do urban Indian consumes more energy than he needs — in terms of electricity, energy-intensive buildings and automobiles. As a developing country we need not concede ground on climate talks. But we can draw up our own plan for emission cuts and more equal energy access. The single-minded pursuit of growth at the expense of the environment is not such a great idea.

(A Srinivas is Deputy Editor)

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