New Delhi: Four days ahead of the Copenhagen climate summit, India on Thursday announced it will reduce its emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020 from the 2005 level.
Minister of Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, in an eloquent exposition of the country's stand which he said was worked out in concert with some developing countries including China, said India was reducing the emission intensity - the level of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP -- in its own interest.
India's announcement came a few days after China announced a 40-45 per cent cut in its emissions intensity by 2020 compared to 2005, Brazil announced 38-42 per cent and Indonesia 26 per cent.
India's emissions intensity is already lower than other emerging economies, and the minister said it had decreased 17.6 per cent between 1990 and 2005.
The minister's reply came in a 65-minute speech at the end of a debate in the Lok Sabha on what India's position will be at the December 7-18 climate summit in the Danish capital.
Dispelling opposition fears of a "sellout" at the summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Ramesh said: "India will not accept a legally binding emission reduction cut and it will not accept a peaking date on its emissions."
He said there would be another non-negotiating position. Emission reduction actions India took on its own would not be open to international scrutiny, but "depending on concessions we can get from western countries, and in consultation with China, Brazil, South Africa and other countries in G77, we can consider opening to international review all our mitigation actions supported by international finances".
Starting his speech with the observation, "India is the country most vulnerable to climate change", Ramesh said this was due to four reasons -- the country's dependence on the monsoons, the receding of the Himalayan glaciers, the presence of ecologically sensitive areas, and the fact that climate change would exacerbate the effect of mining in forest areas of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Ramesh said the problem was that India had hardly any information of its own on climate change effects, which he called "a pathetic state of affairs". Most of the information was derived from Western sources, he said, adding that there was urgent need to start research and have "our own scientific capacity" to study all aspects of climate change in India.
India should have started researching effects of climate change 20 years ago, Ramesh said, adding that the Government had started a network of laboratories to research the phenomenon. "We must have our own scientific capacity to understand the impact of climate change."
Talking about India's position at Copenhagen, he said: "The Prime Minister's instructions to me were that India has not caused the problem of global warming, but try and make sure India is part of the solution; be constructive, be proactive.
"Then I asked myself what is India's position. I found that it only was that our per capita emissions were very low, yours (western countries) very high, therefore we won't do it, we're entitled to pollute more."
The minister felt India had to move beyond this position because it "must negotiate from a position of strength, of leadership. We're going to Copenhagen in a positive frame of mind, prepared to be flexible. We want a comprehensive and equitable agreement. We are realistic enough to know such an agreement may not materialise, but we will work with like minded countries, with China, and with others, to ensure there is a comprehensive and equitable arrangement."
He announced that India, China, Brazil and South Africa had tabled a draft to this effect to the UNFCCC on Wednesday.
Reacting to criticism from the Left parties, Ramesh was at pains to reiterate that India was a part of G77 and China negotiating bloc, "but that does not mean we don't talk to anybody else; and every time we talk to America it does not mean we're selling our country down the drain".
"Having global aspirations and assuming global responsibilities are two sides of the same coin," the minister held.
He said the 20-25 per cent emissions intensity cut had been worked out by the Planning Commission. "The 12th Five Year Plan which starts in 2012 will be based on a low-carbon growth strategy."
Explaining how this would be done, Ramesh outlined a five-step plan of action:
- Mandatory fuel efficiency standards for all vehicles by December 2011;
- A building code that encouraged energy conservation, with a recommendation to local Governments to make this mandatory;
- Amendments to various laws to reduce energy intensity of industrial activities;
- Regular monitoring of the state of the forests, which now absorbed about 10 per cent of India's greenhouse gas emissions; and
- Half of the new coal based power plants coming up to use clean coal technologies -- super critical, ultra super critical and coal gasification.
"This is our baseline," Ramesh said. "If we have a successful agreement at Copenhagen, if it's equitable, if our worries are taken care of, we are prepared to do even more."
Ramesh said: "Flexibility does not mean sellout, it only means ability to move in rapidly evolving situations; we're not living in isolation; we're going there to get the best agreement for India."
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