CSE : US Consumption Level Unsustainable
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said if the US did not make serious changes to its “conspicuous consumption”, climate change mitigation efforts would not be as successful as the US needed to lead the way, being the highest emitter of harmful greenhouse gases.
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“If the US did not make serious changes to its conspicuous consumption, climate change mitigation efforts would not be as successful as the US needed to lead the way, having been the highest emitter in the world,” CSE Director General Sunita Narain said.
She was speaking on the final day of the annual media briefing on climate change organised by CSE.
“The world was following the unsustainable American consumption model which was leading to excessive demand for consumer goods and energy,” CSE said in a statement.
CSE Deputy Director General Chandra Bhushan said that the per capita annual emission of the US would be 12 tonnes while that of the European Union would be five tonnes in 2030. “People live well in the EU. Americans need to scale down their lifestyles,” he said.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had more than once expressed India’s commitment to sustainable lifestyle and said while the country needs just one earth to sustain that lifestyle the developed nations needed five earths to maintain their lifestyle.
The closing session of CSE-organized conference was attended by French Ambassador to India Francois Richier and Zambian Ambassador Sikapale Chinzewe.
Richier said more than 40,000 persons were likely to attend the Conference of Parties (CoP21) at Paris scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 11 and that the French government would offer free visas to journalists.
Bhushan, while presenting the findings from CSE’s recent publication: Capitan America US climate goals A Reckoning,said that the US was shifting from coal to gas-based electricity production because it had found gas and that it was cheaper to produce electricity from gas in the current context for the US.
“It is the price that is determining the shift in policy, not its environmental thinking. In 2030, only 15 per cent of US energy would come from renewable energy. This is very small and does not show the US is serious about cutting down its emissions,” he said.
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