IPCC dropped key chart ‘inconvenient’ to developed world: CSE

NEW DELHI: Four days after the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) brought out its detailed findings predicting a gloomy future for the world if it fails to cut emissions drastically, the Delhi-based research and advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Thursday claimed the global body had dropped a key ‘graph’ from its synthesis report which was “inconvenient” to rich nations.

The dropped ‘graph’ shows how developed countries shy away from focusing on their fast growing consumption-based emissions. They instead, prefer to project their success in reducing production-based emissions over the past few years.

CSE said, the chart indicates that the production-based emissions of these countries have decreased because they shifted the manufacturing base to the developing countries and have been fulfilling their domestic requirements through imports

Although the CSE has consistently been in full agreement with the IPCC over its findings and analysis, in this instance, they believe, the climate panel succumbed to the politics of climate change.

IPCC chairman R K Pachauri, however, rejected the claim, saying “this is completely wrong”. In a text message to TOI, he said, “There was not a single figure which was dropped from the synthesis report. Every figure from the draft submitted for approval was retained intact”.

The IPCC later tweeted that “the chart CSE refers to is on page 16 of the Working Group III Technical Summary. It was not dropped.”



Though the important chart was there in the WGIII summary, it could not find place in the final synthesis report.

Flagging the matter in its annual media briefing on climate change, the CSE’s deputy chief and the group’s climate expert Chandra Bhushan on Thursday highlighted that the ‘graph’ was in the draft report of working group-III of the IPCC but it was finally dropped from the synthesis report.

The synthesis report, released in Copenhagen on Sunday, distilled and combined all the three working group reports of the panel which were brought out by it in the past 13 months.

Claiming that he could access the ‘graph’ from a key member of the IPCC, Bhushan said, “The chart actually shows how consumption in developed countries is increasing rapidly and that consumption is being supported by developing countries”.

He noted that had this ‘graph’ been part of the report, it would have been a “big embarrassment” for developed nations, which are historically the top emitters.

Bhushan, at the same time, also blamed India and China for letting rich nations drop such an important eye-opener, saying both these countries are supporting the consumption of the developed world by turning themselves to the west’s manufacturing base in the name of economic growth.

Elaborating further, CSE chief Sunita Narain said, “They (developed countries) are still consuming. Actually the rich have not reduced (emissions) at all. They exported it (emissions) to developing world including China and India. They pretend to be reducing emissions but are not actually reducing it. This is the dirty politics.”

She later also tweeted the ‘graph’, saying the chart that went missing in the IPCC final report shows how rich countries have not reduced emissions.

Urging developing countries, including India, not to miss these points while negotiating for a global climate deal, Bhushan said rich nations should not escape from their responsibilities of drastic emission cuts by presenting different data to the world.