India-China nudge forward on climate issues
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI - India and China's memorandum of understanding signed last week in
the Indian capital may have only had "a symbolic value", but it nevertheless
showed that two of the world's big economies are serious about finding an
alternative path to dealing with climate change while trying to attain
sustainable development, said a top United Nations official.
Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, told Inter Press Service that it was "unlikely that India or
China would agree to binding greenhouse gas [GhG] emission cuts before 2020 or
compromise on their national interests''. Yet their newly signed deal seeks to
increase their cooperation on tackling climate change and specifically covers
renewable energy and power efficiency.
The two governments have rejected calls from developed countries
to set emission reduction targets ahead of the final round of climate change
talks in Copenhagen in December, when a summit is expected to forge a new
international treaty dealing with climate change. Pachauri said the weight of
public opinion over the past three years has been such that there is
"tremendous pressure on governments to work towards an agreement''.
While India and China, regarded as among the world's biggest polluters, are
unlikely to compromise on any deal that cuts economic growth, experts are
hopeful that a satisfactory global treaty will come through at Copenhagen.
On October 21, China and India announced a joint plan to cut GhG emissions,
suggesting that they were ready to consider an alternative climate treaty to
what the developed economies are trying to get them to sign at Copenhagen. In
their joint statement last week, they emphasized that the "United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol are the most
appropriate framework for addressing climate change".
The United States has rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol because it exempts
developing countries, including India and China, from obligations to cut their
emissions of greenhouse gases, or gases trapped in the atmosphere that create a
warming effect, now popularly referred to as global warming. The Copenhagen
summit aims to replace the protocol, set to expire in 2012.
India and China have been trying with little success to get the developed
countries, including the US, to agree to share clean-energy technology or to
reduce their GhG emissions by 40% in 2020 from 1990 levels, as stipulated in
the Kyoto Protocol.
The two countries together account for about one-fourth of the GhG emissions
that scientists say are causing global warming and, as a consequence, rising
sea levels, erratic weather patterns and increased intensity of droughts and
storms. China is regarded as the world's worst polluter, India stands fourth.
After signing the India-China deal, Xie Zhenhua, vice minister of China's
National Development and Reform Commission, said, "India and China are most
vulnerable to climate change. Both countries are in the process of rapid
industrialization and urbanization. I am confident that both China and India
will make a positive contribution to Copenhagen."
Observers said the deal had roots in the 1996 Montreal Protocol when the two
countries first put pressure on the developed countries to take responsibility
for global warming and climate change.
"There is virtually no difference in the Indian and Chinese negotiating
positions, and we will discuss further what the two countries can do for a
successful outcome at Copenhagen," said environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who
signed the memorandum for India. Both countries affirmed their demand that the
developed must reduce emissions by 5%.
But there are differences in what the two Asian countries are seeking as part
of commitments from the Western countries. China is not as keen on funds for
development as it is on access to green technology, while the reverse is true
for India.
"What is important at this point is that the leadership in the developed
countries is able to convince their people of the scientific realities of
climate change and build support to make proactive commitments,'' Pachauri
said. He pointed to the US Congress, which is "being constantly badgered by
lobbyists that distort policy on climate and energy'', as a major stumbling
block to a comprehensive deal at Copenhagen. Even so, US emissions are expected
to drop 6% this year to their lowest level since 1999, according to the World
Resources Institute, Reuters reported this week
The recession will help reduce the nation's emissions by a total of around 7%
in 2009 and 2010, Reuters reported, citing economic forecasting group Cambridge
Econometrics.
India, for its part, has pledged to keep its per-capita emissions below that of
the wealthy nations. "Equating greenhouse-gas emissions across nations on a
per-capita basis is the only just and fair basis for a long-term global
arrangement on climate change," said the government on October 22.
India has also agreed to international monitoring of measures to tackle climate
change, provided the funds and technology are made available.
Pachauri said any deal that is made at Copenhagen must ensure that
responsibility for producing GhGs is not diluted and take into account the huge
disparities that exist between the developed and developing nations. "There
cannot be two levels of well-being on the same planet," he said.
According to a study released in September by the Pune-based environment and
energy research group Prayas, India is already pursuing a low-carbon path due
to low and declining energy intensity, and significant growth in carbon-free
electric capacity.
The "Overview of India's Energy Trends: Low carbon Growth and Development
Challenges", undertaken in collaboration with Stanford University and the
Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, says that India is now among the top
five countries in renewable energy capacity.
India's carbon and energy use per unit of gross domestic product are both
already below that of the US and China, and seem to be on a decreasing trend.
India had about 12 vehicles per 1,000 people in 2007 compared to over 800 in
the US.
India's industrial electricity tariffs are, on average, the highest in the
world. Gasoline and diesel prices are higher than those in the US and China,
even in market exchange terms. Indians consume only 1/11th of the meat eaten by
an average Chinese and 1/25th of that eaten by an American. Meat production is
an important contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
The Prayas study further notes that India's energy-related emissions need to
grow, rather than decline, in order to alleviate poverty and raise the
country's living standards.
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