Will India fall into carbon emission reduction trap after China's recently announced 40-45% target

[ViruRulez]

Many of you people might be knowing that China recently announced a “voluntary” and “binding” national goal of a 40-45 per cent cut in carbon intensity below 2005 levels by 2020. Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic growth or GDP. Now everybody is looking towards India to announce such a target to reduce carbon emission. But I am really worried about us getting into this trap. The reason why I believe we should not announce or set any high carbon emission reduction target are: 1) China is already emitting 4 times more carbon than India even though the population difference between the countries is not that high. So, even a 40-45% reduction would not near India's current carbon emission. So, why should we sacrifice. 2) If we calculate on per capita basis, then India is one of least emitters of carbon in the atmosphere. China's per capita emission is almost 4 times more than India while carbon emission of US is nearly 15 times more than India. The per capita carbon emission of all the developed countries and the developing countries mainly BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are much higher than India's per capita carbon emission. So, why should we sacrifice and reduce our economic growth when other countries are already emitting a lot more than us. 3) At the end, if we try to reduce our carbon emission significantly then it would also hinder our economic growth. So, why to risk our own growth when all the developed countries are already emitting much more than us on per capita basis. For those who are not aware of the carbon emission of different countries here is the list: Per capita carbon emission by country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita Overall carbon emission by country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions India is now in a sort of pressure to announce huge carbon emission targets in the climate summit in Copenhagen as other big world powers (mainly developed countries) have announced it. But I am still worried as to why should we get ****ed up when the rest of the world is emitting a lot more than we do. What are your views?