While the nations of the world are nearly in agreement that carbon emissions must be reduced, there is tremendous debate over just who ought to be doing the reducing. Consensus (except for a few Kyoto holdouts like the U.S.) once was that richer countries should should lead the way, but with many poorer economies growing rapidly, a new question has entered the carbon control debate: what countries, exactly, count as rich?

Previous UN statements had placed the burden onto the wealthy countries of the G8, and many officials had suggested richer countries could instead remunerate poorer nations for carbon reductions. But since the signing of the Kyoto protocol, the world's first major greenhouse emissions reduction act, the geopolitical situation has changed dramatically.

China and India have become massive economic players on the world stage, and their contribution to global carbon emissions has increased dramatically. China is now widely estimated to have surpassed the United States as the world's largest carbon producer, and India, with its rapidly growing population, and with the introduction of the ultra-cheap Tata Nano, could easily be a new contender for the crown within the next few years.

Poorer countries, for their part, though, want nothing to do with a redefinition of previously drawn rules of wealth. Byron Blake, representing Antigua and Barbuda and currently serving as chair of the G77, a developing nations coalition, states that "The (1992 U.N. Climate) Convention did not provide for differentiation between developing countries, and told Reuters that he regards any attempts to make such divisions as a diversion of effort.

But with the Chinese and Indian powerhouses still G77 members, the claims for rich nations to carry the entire load ring more hollow with each passing year. Several OPEC nations, too, seem starkly out of place. Qatar and Bahrain, which have two of the world's highest GDPs per capita, and the UAE, with its massive cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are also members of the G77 voting block.

A potential solution to the deadlock comes from some of the medium-rich countries who have already left the G77, but not yet joined the G8. Although not currently bound to higher levels of greenhouse reduction, South Korea has plans to announce its own, self-determined carbon caps, in an effort to bridge the contentious divide. South Africa, while remaining in the G77, also has long-term independent plans to stop emissions increases by 2025.

With some countries planning controls of their own volition, it might be in the best interests of the G8 to limit their focus on redefining rich, especially in light of the failure of many developed nations to meet their existing carbon reduction commitments. Though it may come at some economic expense, the lead-by-example approach may continue to be the best chance we have at trimming global carbon emissions to sustainable levels within a generation.