Despite the increasing awareness of global warming, carbon dioxide emissions around the world continue to grow at an alarming rate. The share of developing country contributions to carbon dioxide emissions still remains very high with the United States contributing to 24 per cent of total emissions and the countries of the European Monetary Union contributing 10 per cent. From 2000 to 2002, global CO2 emissions increased by 2.5 per cent annually, and about two-thirds of this increase came from low and middle-income countries. The International Energy Agency presents a very pessimistic picture for the future; it has predicted that by 2030 greenhouse emissions will rise by 52 per cent.

The combustion of fuels remains the greatest contributor to the greenhouse effect. The energy sector accounts for about 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and the agricultural sector for most of the remaining 20 per cent. Coal still remains by far the main source of energy for electricity generation, especially in the developing world. In low-income countries, the share of electricity generated by coal has shifted from 41 per cent in 1990 to 46 per cent in 2003. In China, the use of coal has increased from 71 per cent in 1990 to 79 per cent in 2003. In India, the increment has been from 65 per cent to 68 per cent. Energy use per capita is highest in rich countries, which consume on average 11 times more energy per person than low-income countries. High-income countries in total use 51 per cent of the world's energy production, followed by East Asia and Pacific accounting for 18 per cent and Europe and Central Asia 13 per cent. China is the number two emitter of greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, behind the United States and ahead of Russia. Wood fuels are still the primary source of energy for approximately 2 billion people in poor countries. The rapidly expanding economies of China and India are showing swift increase in carbon dioxide emissions. India's emissions have grown 57 per cent between 1992 and 2002, while China has augmented by 33 per cent in the same period. This trend will likely to continue as economic activity grows.

A UN report, released in Bangkok recently, suggests that policies meant to curb air pollution from factories or cars or efforts to save energy, have had a positive-effect on fighting global warming. Developing nations that are fast industrialising have braked their rising greenhouse gas emissions by more than the total cuts demanded of rich nations by the UN's Kyoto Protocol. Efforts undertaken by developing countries (i.e., Brazil, China, India and Mexico) for reasons other than climate change have reduced their emissions growth over the past 3 decades by approximately 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. It said that more reductions are required from (developed nations) by the Kyoto Protocol.

The data may spur a debate about what is a fair share-out of curbs on emissions in any deal to extend and widen Kyoto, which now binds 35 industrial nations to cut emissions by 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. President George W. Bush pulled the US out of Kyoto in 2001, arguing it would cost US jobs and that it wrongly excluded 2012 goals for poorer nations such as China. Developing nations argue that they should get credit for policies that have helped slow rising emissions.

Russia, for instance, has apparently done most among Kyoto nations with a 32 per cent fall in emissions between 1990 and 2004. And overall, the world's use of energy has become more efficient for the past century. The amount of energy used per dollar of economic output has fallen at about 0.3 per cent a year. And it is hard to say which Kyoto nations have done most, with deliberate policies, to cut emissions since 1990. Sweden, Germany and the UK are the three developed countries that have been diligent in implementing laws to curtail emissions. Developing nations could be juxtaposed alongside them. The US, the most developed nation, hasn't been reigned in yet.