This paper surveys the evidence on the ways in which economic development and policies aimed at advancing human development have contributed and currently contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. It also examines the feedback effects that such warming and the resulting climate change can have on growth and human development, especially in the developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

It discusses, inter alia:

(i) the evidence of a nonlinear relationship between income growth and emissions, especially CO2 emissions;
(ii) the relative contributions of different kinds of activities to GHG emissions;
(iii) the inter-country differences in the relationship between development, GHG emissions and global warming; and
(iv) the constraints to adaptation to climate change faced by poorer countries and socially disadvantaged groups.

This provides the basis for identifying the national and global strategies needed to address global warming and its consequences, with special reference to Asia and the Pacific.