India Urges Rich to Take Lead in Climate Fight
Date: 13-Dec-07
Country: INDONESIA
Author: Sugita Katyal
India, with more than a billion people, is the world's fourth largest emitter behind the United States, China and Russia and is projected to account for a rising share of global carbon emissions as it burns more fuel to try to end poverty.
Despite pressure from industrialised nations and environmental groups to curb emissions, India is not required under the Kyoto Protocol to curb emissions, said to be rising annually by 2-3 percent.
"It is up to the developed world to assist developing countries, including India. We are not ripe enough to make any binding commitments. We are a developing country," N.N. Meena, junior environment minister, said at UN climate talks in Bali.
The 190-nation climate change talks in Indonesia's resort island of Bali are aimed at agreeing to start two years of talks to agree a new treaty to succeed Kyoto and involve all nations in a fight against global warming from 2013.
Poor nations want rich countries to do more before they agree and negotiators are working hard on a formula to draw in the developing world, particularly India and China.
"We are concerned at the attempts to create a new framework, which may result in the dilution of specific and timebound commitments on emission reductions by developed countries. This should not be allowed to happen," India's science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal, said in Bali.
"Bali needs to send out strong messages. Without doubt the most important one should be that the negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol for quantified, time bound and substantial greenhouse gas reductions by developed countries post-2012 will be completed by 2009."
EMISSIONS
India defended its policies, saying its per capita emissions were far below the global average. India has promised that per capita emissions will never reach those of developed nations.
"India is not a big emitter. It is simply a big country. Its population exceeds that of all industrialised countries put together. So total emissions will be huge," said Chandrashekhar Dasgupta, a member of the Indian delegation at the Bali talks.
"But its per-capita emissions are lower than countries like the US and the EU. India's per-capita emissions are one-fourth those of the global average and half of average developing countries," he said.
Under the Kyoto pact, developed nations will aim to reduce greenhouse gas output by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels by 2008-12, but developing nation such as India and China are exempt from the treaty's emission targets because they say their economies would be hit if they were to change their energy policies.
While India's cities may be hugely polluted because of the furious pace of industrialisation, the country's per-capita emissions were low at 0.25 tonnes of carbon in 2001, a quarter of the world average and 22 times less than the United States.
"India is a relatively low carbon economy. India has been offsetting CO2 emissions resulting from growth in population and high GDP growth by lowering energy intensity and improving the carbon intensity of its fuel mix," said Surya Sethi, a member of the Indian delegation at Bali.
"Most independent projections indicate India's CO2 intensity is likely to continue to decline through 2030-50."
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(Editing by Alister Doyle)
