 "US climate change policy not doing enough, says CSE")
A detailed study of the countries' Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) was also released by CSE, which claimed they were "neither ambitious nor equitable", as had been lauded by the international community recently.
The INDCs are voluntary commitments towards reducing carbon emissions pledged by various countries and will be a basis for discussions unto a global consensus on climate change in the upcoming Conference of Parties talks in Paris to be held between from November 30 to December 11.
Every country, in the run up to the Paris climate change summit, is submitting its INDCs. The US has already submitted its climate action plan in which it has pledged to cut greenhouse gases by 26-28 per cent by 2025 against the 2005 level.
India too recently submitted its INDCs in which it has pledged cutting down emissions upto 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels, a 75 per cent jump over its present voluntary commitment
CSE director general Sunita Narain said that while the US was reducing its carbon emissions to a much lesser extent than other countries, it was also shifting the burden to developing countries like India.
The study, called the firest of its kind from the global south, becomes evident when it is seen that till 2025, the US which has 5 per cent of the world's population will emit 491 giga tonnes of carbon pollutants, which is almost 17 per cent of total international emissions.
Conversely, it had been decided in 2013 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to limit total international emissions to 1,900 billion tonnes if the rise in global temperatures were to be kept under 2 degree Celsius. Of this amount, a 1,000 billion tonnes remain, which has to be distributed between all countries.
Developed countries, notably the US, has through its aggressive 'first movers policy' ensured that it got a major share of these emissions historically as well as in current times. This left the developing world to reduce the prospects of industrial growth as well as pick up the pieces of climate challenges.
Narain said, the "no-domestic-action" approach of the US has transformed the UN Convention from a forum where every nation was supposed to take action based on "common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR)" and respective capabilities to a forum where nations are competing in a race to the bottom.
The study points out that in 1980-2009, energy intensity in the household sector of the US declined a whopping 37 per cent but in the same period, more houses were built and the size of houses increased 20 per cent.
It added that during the same period, the use of 'efficient' appliances increased dramatically which meant that the actual energy use remained stagnant and did not decline. The industry sector is the only sector in the US where emissions and energy consumption has declined.
This led to the consumption expenditure in the US increasing dramatically since 1990 whereby in terms of value the total consumption of goods and services have doubled during 1990-2014.
The US' per capita household consumption is double that of an European, 24 times that of a Chinese and 44 times that of an average Indian household.
The stark differences continue whereby the energy consumption due to air conditions in the US is equal to the amount of energy consumed for running all household appliances on the continent of Africa.
The study stressed that while most positive factors in the goals were a direct result of economic and market forces, the US was squandering away whatever improvements had been made in the sector due to unbridled consumption.
Chandra Bhushan, deputy Director General of CSE said, " The US is not doing anything extra for climate change as most of the changes are happening naturally and automatically because of economic reasons and market forces and improvements are being squandered away because of unbridled and unsustainable growth and consumption."
