Article
The global debate on climate change and the emissions of greenhouse gases continues as the Copenhagen Summit did not result in a new and binding climate protocol. New initiatives are to be expected as the Kyoto Treaty is nearing its expiration date. The governments of the states of the world will have to consider both the ends and means of a post‐Kyoto regime, which may be more ambitious than the Copenhagen recommendations. Time has come for the governments of the states in the Asia‐Pacific region – especially China and India – to take an active role in the making and implementation of a global emissions policy that really halt the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The discussions between the country governments – the responsible actors for national and international environmental policies – involve two items of conflict:
1. Per capita emissions against total emissions – what is to be reduced?
2. The ambition to close the economic gap between Third and First World countries – catch up.
Since rich countries tend to have high per capita emissions and poor countries have medium or low per capita emissions, these two issues are intertwined and the rapidly growing economies in the Asia‐Pacific region – China and India – are concerned that cutting back their total emissions could hamper economic growth and thus impact on their ability to catch up. I will argue that the Asia‐Pacific region is absolutely essential in a global environmental regime and that the governments of the populous countries in this part of world should take the notion of environmental sustainability seriously, meaning that catch up cannot be the sole consideration. Let me adduce three arguments, as described in the following sections.