Countries will pay a heavy cost for reneging on their commitments and opposing progress at Doha

The past few years – more so 2012 – have seen a noticeable downswing in the global commitment for combating climate change. The disappointing outcome of the UN-sponsored summit on climate change at Doha this year, as also at earlier meets at Durban (2011), Cancun (2010) and Copenhagen (2009), bear this out. None of the major environment-polluting countries showed any keenness to pledge unconditionally emission-reduction targets for the post-Kyoto period from 2013 onwards.