This argument does not take into account the fact that almost all the GHGs in the atmosphere today have been put there by the rich countries. It ignores the fact that China overtook the US as the world's biggest GHG emitter only in 2007, and that India is still fifth. The per capita GHG emissions in the US is around 20 tonnes per year.

But the developing countries are the ones taking action. India has an ambitious plan to generate 20,000 MW from solar power by 2022, a hundredfold increase from today. China has set some tough energy efficiency standards. Brazil has announced it will reduce GHG emissions by 38-42 percent by 2020.

Among the rich countries, the EU had consistently led the way to a greener economy, till its industrial leaders started telling its governments a few months back that this was making them uncompetitive vis-a-vis the US, which has so far steadfastly refused to be part of any legally binding global treaty to reduce emissions. Now, in their anxiety to bring the US within such a system, the EU leaders have been bending backwards to weaken any possible Copenhagen agreement.

It has now reached the point where most observers feel there will be no legally binding treaty to indicate the extent to which rich countries will reduce their GHG emissions after 2012, when the commitment period of the current treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, runs out. At best, there may be a political statement of intent, and even that at the insistence of host country Denmark.

Rich countries are also unwilling to pay poor countries to help them mitigate GHG emissions and to adapt to the effects of the climate change caused by the industrialised world.

The most conservative estimate - made by the World Bank - of the money needed for adoption is $70-100 billion a year. Not even a miniscule fraction of that is on the table, while developing countries are already being forced to spend huge sums to cope with climate change effects. India spent over 2.7 percent of its GDP last fiscal, according to the government's latest economic survey.

As a worried world readies for the Copenhagen summit (Dec 6-18), veteran observers offer one crumb of comfort. The squabbles were just as intense before the Kyoto climate summit, where the current protocol was signed.

(Joydeep Gupta can be contacted at joydeep.g@ians.in)