‘If US bans SUVs, poor get power at no climate cost’

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‘If US bans SUVs, poor get power at no climate cost’
World Bank Report Points Out That 1 Billion People Living In High-Income Countries Are Using 63% More Carbon Space
Nitin Sethi | TNN

New Delhi: If the current fleet of 25-40 million gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the United States were to shift to more fuel efficient cars such as those available in Europe, more than 1.6 billion people in the world currently living in the dark can be provided electrification without any increase in the levels of greenhouse gases that lead to climate change.
Phasing out the oversized, power-packed SUVs, considered the hallmark of a Midwestern dream in the US, would reduce global emissions by a whopping 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, according to the World Bank’s yet-to-be-released World Development Report 2009.
In comparison, the report says, providing the basic electrification to the poor of the world would add 45 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas.
This is only one example of the “duplicity’’ of the industrialized nations that the WDR highlights to prove that “carbon space’’ is inequitably powering the luxurious lifestyles of the rich at the cost of the poorer nations. Carbon space is an individual’s or a country’s share of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.
The report, the draft overview of which was seen by TOI, now points out that the 1 billion people living in the high-income countries are using 63% more carbon space than is their fare share on a per capita basis if one were to analyze the emissions since 1990.
India, for decades, has demanded at the UN climate negotiations that it must be given a greater ‘carbon space’ in the atmosphere to allow its 600 million poor access to electricity. The industrialized nations have argued that if India grows and powers its poor, the already limited space left in the atmosphere to spew out GHG gases would lead to irreversible and dangerous climate change.
The World Bank report, to be released in September, has now backed the Indian stance that the high-income countries have contributed a disproportionate share of the world’s carbon emissions and still continue to do so. India and other developing countries have long contended that the massive emissions from the rich nations since the industrialization era have choked up the atmosphere and left little space for other nations emerging late on the economic growth pathway to increase their power production.
Carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, once emitted remains in the atmosphere for decades creating a warm blanket around the planet. Scientists have contended that the accumulation beyond a certain limit could tip the planet towards climatic disasters.
Earlier studies have shown that historical emissions amount to about 1,100 tonnes of CO2 per capita for the UK and the US, compared with 66 tonnes for China and 23 tonnes for India. Since 1840, seven out of every 10 tonnes of CO2 emitted has come from the rich countries.
The double standards in the climate debate can also be seen simply in the power consumption across the world.
The integrated energy policy of India points out that the country’s current total primary energy supply (TPES) per capita is a mere 439 kg of oil equivalent, a unit of energy based on the energy released by 1 kg of crude oil.
In comparison, Denmark’s TPES is 3,852, UK’s 3,906, Japan’s 4,052 and US’ a whopping 7,835 kg oil equivalent. The world’s average per capita energy use is almost four times that of India at 1,688.
The low energy consumption comes at the cost of keeping India’s poor in the dark.
According to the the 1999-2000 National Sample Survey’s 55th round, 86% of rural households use firewood, chips and dung cakes as primary source of cooking energy. Only 5% of households in rural areas and 44% households in urban areas use LPG.
The government estimates that India needs to increase its energy supply by 4.3% to 5.1% per year by 2031 in order to maintain its walk up the growth ladder and to achieve its poverty reduction targets.
Indian negotiators have on several occasions pointed out to the rich nations that they have to reduce their emissions and vacate the carbon space in order for other developing and poor nations to reach an economic comfort zone.