India slams legally-binding cuts
Copenhagen, Dec. 12: As negotiations on climate change gathered momentum here, India has said it will play a constructive role even as it slammed efforts of the developed world to make domestic emission cut commitments of developing nations legally-binding and verifiable.
The Union environment minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, asserted that India’s national voluntary domestic measures to tackle global warming were not up for international scrutiny and progress on these would be checked only by the country’s Parliament.
He made it clear that India will not agree to the concept of “peaking”, a clause incorporated in the first official draft which mandates developing nations to cap their emissions although it does not mention any time-frame for that.
Mr Ramesh said the “peaking” clause will adversely impact the development of rural electricity in the country which is already facing a huge backlog in this area.
While ruling out any dilution of previously-stated “red lines” drawn by India, the minister said he had “come here to play a constructive, facilitative, leadership role to ensure an effective and equitable agreement”. His comments came in the backdrop of a clash between India and the EU on the contentious issue of making domestic commitments legally-binding and verifiable.
The European commission director-general, Mr Karl Falkenberger, said on Friday that EU expected India, China and other emerging economies to report on their national mitigation programmes which would be incorporated in an international treaty.
Mr Ramesh said that his discussions were focused on the various drafts of potential treaty from the Working Groups on Kyoto, the African group and Alliance of Island States (AOSIS) that have been circulating at the climate meet here. India has asserted that every individual has a right to an equal atmospheric space and feels the rich countries are trying to deny this to poorer populations of Asia and Africa.
The minister said that not only was India announcing voluntary target of reducing carbon intensity by 20 to 25 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020 it was also taking a “nationally accountable mitigation outcome”, which means implementation and progress on these domestic measures would be checked by Parliament, civil society and media.
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The Minister said that while India and China were co-ordinating very closely at Copenhagen, the two countries should not be compared in terms of emissions with China being number one and India being five. "We are not in the same boat," he said. The Minister should take care while explaining that India’s emissions comparatively less with that of China; no much importance is to be given as this is already commented by EU representatives themselves. India is not supposed to comment on this unnecessarily. We have to go along with China at Copenhagen. Please don't forget that.
Personally I would like to suggest that India should take an initiative with China and think seriously for a close dialogue with Todd Stern again. We know his stand, that the United States has to remain steadfast in demanding certain commitments to curb emissions from developing nations, taking into account that all future increase in emissions of greenhouse gases in the coming decades is anticipated to come mainly from China , of course India too. Thus the draft plan has to be balanced as a whole with due application of futuristic judgment. India and China can afford to consider this point to some extent and can address it by slightly relaxing the unbending attitude, get along with U.S and pave the way for achieving a result. If India reach in terms with U.S, then can jointly prevail on EU , AOSIS and African front within G 77 to win at Copenhagen.
Let Ramesh prevail on U.S first, then he can easily reach an accord with others so as to get Victory for India and the world.
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