Over-emitting nations owe India $170 trn: Study
NEW DELHI: 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 low-emitters like India to ensure climate change targets are met by 2050, according to a new study.
India is owed an annual compensation of USD 1,446 per capita until 2050 and a yearly compensation equivalent to 66 percent of its GDP in 2018, the study published in Nature Sustainability says.
The researchers from University of Leeds, the UK, analysed 168 countries and quantified historical responsibility for climate breakdown, based on excess carbon dioxide emissions beyond equality-based fair shares of global carbon budgets. They proposed an evidence-based 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 1.5 degrees Celsius.
A handful of low-emitting countries, especially India, would sacrifice a majority of total appropriated emissions to balance the excess of over-emitting countries and keep global heating within 1.5 degrees Celsius, the research says.
The top five over-emitting countries, including the US, Germany, Russia, the UK and Japan, would be liable to pay USD 131 trillion. On the other hand, the top five low-emitting countries - India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria and China are entitled to receive USD 102 trillion in compensation or reparations.