The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted in 1992 and ratified in 1994, was an important first step towards framing a global response to climate change. The UNFCCC goal is to "protect the climate system for present and future generations by seeking to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." The UNFCCC charter articulates specific principles as a basis for future action on climate issues. These include equity, sustainable development, reducing vulnerability of developing countries and the need to take precautionary measures preceding scientific certainty.¹ In...

A benchmark for assessing equity is the somewhat idealized southern stance taken by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India. However, it is not an isolated view, and has found related resonances among civil society representatives in the North, such as the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). The CSE concludes that the covenants of the Kyoto Protocol (KP) are inequitable and built in them are perverse incentives to pollute. Its proposal, which combines fair entitlements with the principle of convergence, aims to produce equitable as well as effective outcomes.

The drift of the argument is as follows. The KP has...

In as much as developing countries tend to be energy deficient, the answer is no. In so far as they are energy profligate, the answer is yes. The respective measurement indicators are per capita energy consumption and energy intensity. The per capita emissions profile presented below leaves little doubt that that the onus for mitigation rests with the north.

Conversely, high-energy intensity provides national grounds for mitigation ― as such global warming becomes a secondary issue. While cross-country data for this particular measure is not available, we take the Pakistan case as being representative.

Energy intensity levels converged to the...

Pakistan signed the UNFCCC in 1992, and ratified it in 1994. By doing so it committed to taking steps towards climate change mitigation and the assessment and reduction of national vulnerability.

However, on the basis of present and projected per capita emissions, Pakistan is not likely to be a key player in global warming, with its emissions well below the global average. As such, it has no reason to buy into the ‘mitigation groundswell’ driven by Northern global warming concerns. The CDM is the most recent manifestation of this. On the other hand, the local consequences of GHG emissions present...