Kyoto Apples, Kyoto Oranges

World leaders who loathe the Kyoto accord; bright lights like Bush, Howard, and Harper, like to fall back on the China and India excuse. These two emerging nations aren't bound by Kyoto so why should the U.S., Australia or Canada bite the bullet?

What their argument conveniently omits is any consideration of population disparities, that is to say "per capita" comparisons. Yes, India and China are major greenhouse gas producers. There are many contributing factors that the environmental neo-cons don't like to get into:

China and India each have populations well in excess of a billion people.

China and India are emerging from a technologically backward state. Both have had and continue to have poverty problems. Their poor don't have access to 'clean technologies' which gives them an undue reliance on coal, charcoal and wood for fuel.

The economic 'miracle' being experienced in both countries has triggered a wave of consumerism that brings with it its own environmental challenges.

However, we need to keep this in perspective. Consider this analysis from the British paper, The Independent:

Supersize nation: how America is eating the world

300m Expected population of the United States by the end of this week

75 Life expectancy for men in the US. Women are expected to live until 80

63 Life expectancy for men in the developing world. Women are expected to live until 67

395m Projected population of the US by 2050

1,682m3 US annual water consumption per capita

633m3 The world's annual water consumption per capita

545m3 The developing world's annual water withdrawals per capita

5lbs Amount of waste each US resident produces per day. That compares with about 3lbs per person per day in Europe, and about 0.9-1.3lbs per person a day in the developing world

$39,710 US Gross National Income per head, 2004

$8,540 World's GNI per head

$4,450 Developing world's GNI per head

19.8 US carbon dioxide emissions per capita, in metric tonnes

3.9 World's carbon dioxide emissions per head, in tonnes

1.8 Developing world's carbon dioxide emissions per head, in tonnes

58bn Number of burgers consumed by Americans every year

54m Number of Americans who are obese

300,000 Deaths per year related to obesity

678lbs US annual paper consumption per head

115lbs The corresponding figure for the world

44lbs The figure for the developing world

204m number of vehicles on US roads

37% Percentage of the total cars in the world on America's roads

1 in 7 Barrels of world oil supply used by US drivers

24m Number of Americans who drive SUVs

7,921 US energy consumption per capita, 2001, expressed in kilograms of oil

1,631 World's energy consumption per capita, in kilograms of oil

828 Corresponding figure for the developing world

Maybe these figures give us the answer. If we just set our environmental targets based, not on nation to nation comparisons, but per capita numbers, our Kyoto targets would seem pretty modest indeed.