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As per the WMO (World Meteorological Organization), 2016 was the warmest year, with temperature 1°C above the pre-industrial era. This was owing to El Nino and warming caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs). Anthropogenic emissions have been increasing at an unprecedented rate since the industrial revolution. According to an IEA (International Energy Agency) report 2015, concentration of CO2 in 2014 was 40 per cent higher than in the mid-1800s. The energy sector is the largest contributor to GHG emissions and, within this, CO2 emissions from combustion of fuels have the largest share. The global emissions profile2 shows that emissions have been distributed very unequally among different countries:
(i) If historical CO2 emissions from 1970 to 2014 are considered, India with
39.0 Gt is way behind the top three emitters—the USA (232 Gt), the EU (190.2 Gt) and China (176.2 Gt). USA’s emissions,
for example, were around six times India’s.
(ii) Even if historical levels are discounted and only present levels considered, both in terms of absolute and per capita emissions, India is way behind the three major CO2 emitters. Per capita emissions for USA, EU, China and India are—17 ton/capita, 7.5 ton/capita, 7 ton/capita and 2 ton/capita, respectively.
(iii) In terms of sectoral CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, electricity and heat production was the largest contributor for China, India, the EU and the USA, more so for China and India, followed by the manufacturing industry for India and China and the transport sector for the US and the EU. These compositional patterns reflect the different priorities of these countries.