Global warming has been a growing concern among environmentalists for decades. The major culprit in the slowly changing climate of the Earth is the Greenhouse Effect, a phenomenon that is created when gasses in the atmosphere absorb the Earth’s reflected heat rather than allowing it to pass into space. The greenhouse gasses – those that have the most effect on the changing weather patterns – include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, and ozone. While there are many sources for these gasses, the largest single contributor is the burning of fossil fuels – coal, fuel oil and natural gas.

In 1997, the United Nations Framework Convention Framework for Climate Change created a treaty of sorts which laid out restrictions and actions to be taken by particular nations to curb the production of greenhouse gasses. The countries expected to sign were divided into two categories – developed nations and developing nations. The developing nations were exempt from restrictions, in part because they have not contributed as much to the current problem and in part to allow them the luxury of developing their industries and infrastructure. China, the second largest producer of greenhouse gasses, is in the developing countries category, and not subject to restriction. This has caused major controversy among the nations who are subject to the restrictions imposed by the Kyoto Protocol.

Specifically, the United States has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol unless it includes binding targets and timetables for reduction of emissions by developing as well as developed nations. The main target of the U.S. refusal to ratify the Protocol is China, which is projected to pass the U.S. to become the single largest emitter of greenhouse gasses as early as 2009 – considerably earlier than the 2030 date originally projected in 1997. The major reason for the change in projection is China’s increasing use of coal to fuel its industrialization.

Despite reports from China in the late 1990s and through 2003 that coal consumption was dropping, the official figures of fuel consumption for 2002 showed that Chinese use of coal had actually grown 7.6% over 2001. Even those figures, say many experts, are deceptive. They point to the fact that many local governments had reported closing mines and factories to the central government which in fact, remained open and operational, spewing carbon gasses into the atmosphere.

If China continues to increase its coal consumption at the present rate, then it will account for nearly half the increase in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2030. With these figures, even the most conservative signatories of the Kyoto Protocol and other developing countries are conceding that the emissions of developing countries need to be addressed. The stumbling block is how to address those concerns. In fact, while China emits the second largest proportion of gasses into the atmosphere, its emissions per capita are considerably lower than those in many other countries. In addition, China has instituted a number of initiatives and programs to reduce its dependence on and use of fossil fuels.

The debate becomes one of morality versus economics. Is it fair for the United States and other developed countries to put the preservation of their own economies above the best interests of the world? Is it fair to expect that China will curtail its own industrial and economic development when its per capita use of fossil fuels is considerably lower than that of developed countries?

In the end, the right answers may have to take population into account in ways that industrialized and developed nations do not want to see by calling for an eventual equalization of the per capita expenditure in energy. If that were to happen, developing nations would increase their per capita consumption while developed nations decrease theirs, putting the major burden of repairing the damage done to the environment on the shoulders of those who did the damage.