Carbon, carbon everywhere
The origin of greenhouse gas emissions is an important issue in relation to the need for devising policy options to minimise potential global climate change and its impacts. The best known of the greenhouse gases is CO2, which is emitted into the atmosphere in large amounts -the equivalent of more than 6,000 tonnes of carbon per year. The industrialised world, particularly the US, is largely responsible for the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. An international system for tradeable permits in carbon emissions would break new ground in international trade. But how to allot these permits is a debatable question.
| Know your limits A system to reduce CO2 emissions has to be developed | |||||
| The tables shows how CO2 trade permits might be distributed among the top 20 countries taking different criteria. For simplicity, the total number of permits are assumed to be 1,000. The table has been compiled using 1989 figures | |||||
| In proportion to CO2 emissions (1989 country totals) | Equal rights per head of population | Cleanliness of production | |||
| United States Soviet Union China Japan India Fed Rep of Germany United Kigdom Canada Poland Italy France German Dem Rep Mexico South Africa Australia Czechoslovakia Republic of Korea Romania Brazil Spain | 273 | China India Soviet Union United States Brazil Japan Mexico Fed Rep of Germany United Kingdom Italy France Republic of Korea Spain Poland South Africa Canda Romania Australia German Dem Rep Czechoslovakia | 353 | Japan France Italy Brazil Fed Rep of Germany Spain United Kingdom United States Canada Australia Romania Soviet Union Republic of Korea Czechoslovakia German Dem Rep Mexico India South Africa Poland China | 117 |
| Source: UNCTAD Report 1995 and WRI | |||||
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