NEW DELHI - Rich countries like the United States must reduce their carbon footprint to support poor nations who have no choice but to increase their emissions if they are to lift themselves out of poverty, a leading environmentalist said.
Countries like China and India have been criticised by the West for refusing to commit to emissions targets, despite being amongst the world's top greenhouse gas emitters.
"Climate change is directly linked to economic growth," Sunita Narain, an environmentalist who has taken on the government on issues from air pollution to waste management, told Reuters ahead of the Reuters Environment Summit next week.
"With climate change, we are looking at sharing the resources of the world and we are looking at bringing some justice in the way they are distributed -- so the rich world has to reduce its emissions so that the poor world can increase theirs."
India, whose economy has grown annually by 8 to 9 percent in recent years, contributes around 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions as its consumption of fossil fuels gathers pace.
New Delhi says it must use more energy to lift its population out of poverty, something rich nations -- which have burnt fossil fuels unhindered for a century -- should understand.
But the United States, which is one of the biggest polluters in the world, says it will not commit to emission targets until India and China do.
Narain, who heads the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, said the U.S. argument was "a petty game being played by petty politicians".
"I think there is a lack of morality in the western world whose use of fossil fuels and emissions far outstrips a country like India or even China," said Narain, who is known for her outspokenness.
