ABSTRACT
While the previous chapters focused on statistical analyses that included all developing countries, this chapter goes into more detail concerning the specificities of intra-country environmental quality and commitment. To this end, China and India, two emerging countries, are closely examined to obtain additional insights on the various relationships studied in previous chapters. Both countries are already important economic powers and, due to their enormous sizes, the question of how these countries deal with their environmental problems matters not only for their domestic but also for global sustainability. In its fifth Global Environmental Outlook, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) defines economic growth, population increase, mass consumption, and urbanization as the main obstacles to a sound natural environment, 1 all of which are especially pressing in India and China. Already today, China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), and China and India together are predicted to account for half of the increase in transport-related emissions between 2005 and 2030 worldwide. 2 This is an impressive number given that 13 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. Hence this chapter discusses how the two countries respond to the many environmental challenges they face due to their enormous populations, their impressive economic growth, and their rapid urbanization.
