Carbon Emissions by rich nations up by 10% in 16 yrs

The data released by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) comes as a wake-up call to the world with scientists having warned earlier that global emissions needed to be cut by as much as 30-40% from 1990 levels in order to stabilise the temperatures at a bearable point by 2020.

"The data has revealed the doublespeak of rich nations that have been asking India, China and other developing countries to undertake reduction in their already low emission levels even as their own emissions continue to rise," a senior Indian official said.

India's per capita emissions are almost one-twentieth of the US and one-tenth of EU.

The global climate treaty divides the countries into two sets. One set is called the Annex 1 or industrialised countries, which are responsible for most of the accumulated GHG emissions and have been asked to reduce their emissions by 6-8% by 2012. The rest, such as Indian and China, are called non-Annex 1 countries in UN jargon.

Eastern European countries, where the economic meltdown had led to reduced emissions by default, are called `economies in transition' and are taken as a separate sub-category within the Annex 1 list.

The worst offenders in the rich nations list turns out to be Turkey, whose emissions increased by 95% in the 16-year period. Australia's emissions increased by 27.3% and of the US by 14.4%.