The situation seems to be getting worse with every report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The latest is the Synthesis report (March 2023), which reveals that the global surface temperature between 2011-2020 was about 1.09 degrees Celsius higher than between 1850-1900. Incidentally, this is an average temperature that is higher over land (1.59 degrees) than over the ocean (0.88 degrees). The report also states that historical net emissions from 1850 to 2019 were about 2,400 (+/- 240) gigatonnes (GT) of CO2. About 58 percent of that happened between 1850 and 1989, and the rest from 1990 to 2019. In addressing carbon emissions, the key issue is inequality—that is, how the developed world gets out of very high carbon emissions per capita and prepares the developing world for what even for minimal energy consumption. The UNFCCC report (1992) states that climate protection should be done on the basis of equity and in accordance with their "common but differentiated responsibilities" (CBDR) and respective capacities. Consequently, in the Kyoto Protocol (1997), more responsibility was transferred to the developed world, which was assigned legally binding targets, while targets for developing countries were voluntary. The Kyoto Protocol was not ratified by the US because developing countries such as China and India, which were large emitters (although their per capita emissions were much lower than the world average), did not have binding targets. Canada also withdrew in 2012. Japan and Russia later did so. By 2012, the Kyoto Protocol had weakened to the point that it covered only 11.8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (WRI). (THE AUTHOR SUMIT DASGUPTA)