The world needs to adopt the concept of equal per capita entitlements for greenhouse gas emissions.
Let’s cut to the chase. We know that if we are serious about climate change, we have to be serious about changing (drastically) the way the world generates and uses its energy. But even as the rich world talks glibly about ‘decarbonisation’ of its economy, it has done precious little to reinvent its energy system and to wean itself out of its fossil fuel addiction. Between 1990 and 2005, fossil fuel-related emissions have only increased, not decreased in these countries.
Forget the grand energy transition towards renewables. We are in reverse gear. Between 1900 and 2000, world energy use grew more than 10 times. And even though energy from renewable sources increased nearly five-fold during the century, its share in total energy use dropped from 42 per cent to 19 per cent. By 2004, this share was down to just 13 per cent. Importantly, the bulk of the renewable energy budget was made up of old renewables like hydroelectricity and poverty-related renewables like biomass burning — women cooking food on stoves using firewood. The contribution of new renewables — wind, solar, tidal and geothermal — was as little as 0.9 per cent of the world’s energy supply.
The world must focus on how it can re-invent its energy system. It is time we took the lead and put forward the framework for an effective climate agreement for the entire world.
The framework must be based on the two climate imperatives. One, to share the global commons equitably, because we know that cooperation is not possible without justice. Two, to create conditions so that the world, particularly the energy-deprived world, can make the transition to a low-carbon economy. It is here the opportunity lies.
The tragedy of the atmospheric common has been the lack of rights to this global ecological space. As a result, countries have borrowed or drawn heavily and without control. They have emitted greenhouse gases far in excess of what the earth can withstand. This was because they could emit without limits or quotas and were “free riding” on this natural capital. Some researchers have called this the “natural debt” of the North, as against the financial debt of the South. In this situation, curtailing the emissions can only be done through the creation of rights and entitlements of each nation to the atmosphere so that future responsibilities are clearly demarcated. In other words, the world needs to adopt the concept of equal per capita entitlements for greenhouse gas emissions.
This allocation of the earth’s global sinks to each nation, based on its population, will create a system of per capita emission entitlements. These entitlements taken together will be the “permissible” level of emission of each country, which can be the basis of trading between nations. The country, which exceeds its annual quota of carbon dioxide, could trade with those countries with “permissible” emissions. The countries with permissible emissions will have the financial incentive to keep their emissions as low as possible and to invest in low-carbon trajectories.
But as much the world needs to design a system of equity between nations, nations of the world need to design a system of equity within the nation. It is not the rich in India who emit less than their share of the global quota. It is the poor in India, who do not have access to energy, who provide us the breathing space. India, for instance, had per capita carbon emissions of 1.5 tonnes per year in 2005. Yet, this figure hides huge disparities. Currently it is estimated that only 31 per cent of rural households use electricity. Connecting all of India’s villages to grid-based electricity will be expensive and difficult. It is here that the option of leapfrogging to off-grid solutions based on renewable energy technologies becomes most economically viable. If India were to assign its national entitlements on an equal per capita basis, it would provide both the resources and the incentives for current low- energy users to adopt zero-emission technologies. In this way, too, a rights-based framework will stimulate powerful demand for investments in new renewable energy technologies.
Let us be clear. The challenge of climate change is a make-or-break situation for the world. It forces us, perhaps for the very first time in our history, to realise that we live together on one earth. It tells us that the there are limits to growth and more importantly that growth will have to be shared between all. The big question is: Will we prove to be equal to the challenge? The answer is that we have no choice. There is no other way.
