Accounting for colonial rule reduces India’s climate role by 15%

Previous analysis had put India’s share of cumulative historical emissions at 3.4% of the global total

India’s responsibility for the climate crisis is likely to be 15% lower than thought if the period of the British colonial rule is accounted for, a new analysis has found.

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Previous analysis ranked India as the seventh-largest contributor to current warming (in the 1850-2021 period), behind the United States (1), China (2), Russia (3), Brazil (4), Germany (5) and Indonesia (6) – but ahead of the United Kingdom (8). But when colonial emissions and historical emissions are considered (for 1850-2023