Un article consacré aux politiques climatiques de trois pays émergents (Chine, inde et Brésil) et aux contraintes et nécessités socio-économiques qui président à la définition et la mise en œuvre de ces politiques. Si les priorités différent d'un pays à l'autre, tous sont engagés sur la voie d'un développement décarboné, au sein duquel la sécurité et la compétitivité énergétiques jouent un rôle primordial.
Cet article a été écrit dans le cadre de la Learning Platform.
Points clés [en anglais] :
- Social and economic development as a matter of priority
Emerging countries will have to tackle different social and economic development challenges in the future, which translate nationally into the concepts of "harmonious society" in China and "inclusive growth" in India, and into the Brazilian slogan "a wealthy country is a country without poverty". Per capita (current US$), Brazil is more than two times richer than China, which in turn is three times richer than India. This graduation explains the variety of priorities of those countries: reducing inequalities and achieving the development processes in China and Brazil, alleviating poverty and enhancing energy access in India. Furthermore, these countries are increasingly linked internationally, along with the globalisation process. Energy security is a key issue for China and India, while Brazil aims at playing a key role on future international energy markets.
- Early development of low-carbon strategies
Emerging economies are progressively laying the foundations for low-carbon development strategies that will depend on their national contexts and priorities. Investments in building and transport infrastructures are increasingly important in all those countries, creating the conditions today for tomorrow’s low-carbon economic development. China recently made important resolutions in the framework of its 12th Five-Year Plan, decoupling economic growth from GHG emissions. India has developed eight "National Missions" on climate change and is now exploring future low-carbon strategies. And Brazil is affirming its position internationally, pushing for innovative "green growth" concepts, within the framework of the Rio+20 Conference.
- Implementation of innovative policy instruments
All countries have already implemented several energy and climate policies and plan to develop them further, through innovative policy institutions and instruments. They are switching progressively from command- and-control to economic instruments. In particular, market-based mechanisms are increasingly used in all countries: mandatory pilot Emission Trading Systems (ETS) in China, voluntary ETS experiments in Brazil, and the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme in India to improve energy efficiency in the industry sector. Design issues are often related to the huge uncertainties in future economic development of these countries, as well as to the robustness of domestic statistical instruments (availability and quality of data). But they are learning fast and are already taking advantage from other international experiences in this task.
