Rich over-emitting nations owe India USD 1,446 per capita until 2050 as compensation, says study

Industrialised nations of the Global North such as the US and Germany are responsible for 90 percent of excessive levels of carbon dioxide emissions and could be liable to pay a total of USD 170 trillion in compensation to lowemitters like India to ensure climate change targets are met by 2050 according to a new studyIndia is owed an annual compensation of USD 1446 per capita until 2050 and a yearly compensation equivalent to 66 percent of its GDP in 2018 the study published in Nature Sustainability on Monday saysThe researchers from University of Leeds the UK analysed 168 countries and quantified historical responsibility for climate breakdown based on excess carbon dioxide emissions beyond equalitybased fair shares of global carbon budgetsClimate science defines carbon budget as the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted for a given level of global warming 15 degree Celsius in this caseThey proposed an evidencebased compensation mechanism that takes into account historical responsibility for both causing and averting climate breakdown in an ambitious scenario where all countries decarbonise from current levels to net zero by 2050 which science says would limit global warming to 15 degrees CelsiusEven under ambitious scenarios that limit global warming to 15 degrees Celsius the Global North would overshoot its collective share of the carbon budget by a factor of three appropriating half of the Global Souths fair share in the process This is unjust they saidA handful of lowemitting countries especially India would sacrifice a majority of total appropriated emissions to balance the excess of overemitting countries and keep global heating within 15 degrees Celsius the research says The top five overemitting countries including the US Germany Russia the UK and Japan would be liable to pay USD 131 trillion more than twothirds of total compensationOn the other hand the top five lowemitting countries India Indonesia Pakistan Nigeria and China are entitled to receive USD 102 trillion in compensation or reparations In 2015 countries agreed to limit global warming to 15 degrees Celsius as compared to preindustrial levels 18501900 to avoid extreme destructive and likely irreversible effects of climate changeEarths global surface temperature has risen by around 115 degrees Celsius and the CO2 spewed into the atmosphere since the start of the industrial revolution is closely tied to it Despite accounting for more than 17 percent of the global population India has contributed only about 4 percent of the global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions between 1850 and 2019At 24 tCO2e tonne carbon dioxide equivalent Indias per capita greenhouse gas emission is far below the global average of 63 tCO2e according to a report released last year by the United Nations Environment ProgrammePer capita emission in the US 14 tCO2e is far above the global average followed by Russia 13 tCO2e China 97 tCO2e Brazil and Indonesia about 75 tCO2e each and the European Union 72 tCO2eResearch on carbon inequalities shows that some countries are overshooting their fair share of the remaining carbon budget and hold disproportionate responsibility for climate breakdownMany poor and developing countries argue that the overshooting countries owe compensation or reparations to undershooting countries for atmospheric appropriation and climaterelated damagesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever