India and China Make Climate Truce

As the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference draws closer, the pressure is mounting on all nations to negotiate a deal on reducing emissions and preventing climate change. No nation wants to compromise their economy for the sake of the environment, and its becoming increasingly more obvious that future growth could suffer to prevent dangerous climate change.

In a move that essentially makes them the most powerful voice at the Copenhagen Climate conference, China and India have signed an agreement to work together on addressing climate change. China and India are 2 of the worlds biggest polluters. They are also 2 of the fastest developing nations on Earth and are thus critical to any climate change deal that could be reached at Copenhagen.

The move is a massive one by the economic giants. As developing nations they have shared interests in continuing to increase their emissions over the foreseeable future to further power their economic growth. Lets not forget that there are well over 2 billion of the worlds population living in these countries alone, many of which are still in poverty.

But what remains to be seen is whether this alliance will have a positive or negative impact on a climate change treaty. Both argue that capping their emissions would limit their economic growth. They, along with most developing nations, claim that developed nations such as the USA are more historically responsible for climate change and should face tougher restrictions. This alliance of the 2 largest and most influential developing nations means their opinion and demands at the Copenhagen climate conference will likely be the voice of all developing nations, perhaps completely overshadowing that of developed nations.

Make no mistake, the climate change conference is not about climate change at all. It is a battle of the worlds biggest economies on who should pay the price of pollution. Economic power is shifting to the east and America will likely do everything it can to stop it. But the Alliance of India and China now puts the odds heavily in their favour. A meaningful deal in Copenhagen simply cannot exist without agreement from China, India and America.

Will America accept their historical responsibility? Will China and India agree to only build Renewable Energy from now on? Will these people actually remember to listen to the climate scientists and not businessmen and economists? Probably not…