Climate change is today accepted as the largest threat to humanity and is now taking centre stage globally with discussions in various international governmental, economic and academic fora. it has brought to focus attention on the critical question of linkages between development and environmental sustainability. in december 2007, the world’s governments will meet in bali, indonesia to kick-start the process leading up to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. this meeting is extremely crucial to ensure that governments commit to larger emission cuts that will keep global temperature rise to below 2 degrees. while this international meeting sets the debate for ‘climate justice’ at a global level this study aims at raising the same debate within the country. it asks the question – is there climate injustice happening in india? it presents a case for the indian government to implement the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ amongst the various socio economic groups in the country.the report is based on a first of its kind face-to-face survey across the country ranging from the metros to medium and small towns and rural areas on domestic energy consumption and transportation. the energy consumption patterns in 819 households have been converted into Co2 emissions and then assigned to seven different income classes.  the findings plainly illustrate that the considerably significant carbon footprint of a relatively small wealthy class (1% of the population) in the country is camouflaged by the 823 million poor population of the country, who keep the overall per capita emissions below 2 tonnes of Co2 per year. while even the richest income class in this study, earning more than 30,000 rupees a month, produce slightly less than the global average Co2 emissions of 5 tonnes, this amount already exceeds a sustainable global average Co2 emissions of 2.5 tonnes per capita that needs to be reached to limit global warming below 2 degrees centigrade. the carbon footprint of the 4 highest income classes earning more than 8,000 rupees per month, representing a population of about 150 million people in the country, already exceeds sustainable levels.

Graph 1 highlights how this injustice ranks in terms of international per capita emissions while at the same time showing how the average per capita emissions of the different socio economic groups in india are quite literally worlds apart.while india has a right to demand a ‘common but differentiated’ responsibility at an international level, there is the urgent need for intra-national common but differentiated responsibility too. developed nations need to cut their Co2 emissions not only to prevent climate change but also to give space to the developing world to catch up, without pushing the global temperatures over the tipping point. the same is true within india. if the upper and the middle class do not manage to check their Co2 emissions, they will not only contribute to global warming, but will also deny hundreds of millions of poor indians access to development. the study clearly illustrates the growing schism of carbon emissions between the two indias; the poor bearing the biggest climate impact burden and camouflaging the other india’s lifestyle choices. the prescription provided as a response to the results in the study is not that india should not develop or the wealthy should stop consuming, but to make a clear case for india to decarbonise its development. the path of 11th and 12th Five year Plans proposed by the indian government continues to base the future of energy production in the country mainly on coal power plants, thus further increasing Co2 emissions. a major revision of the future of the power sector is needed, shifting investments from coal and nuclear to renewables and energy efficiency, to create the carbon space for the poor to develop. in short, an energy revolution is needed in india as well as the rest of the world.