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| 'Climate change fight shouldn't hit development'' |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Oct 23, 2009, 00:17 IST |
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Focus of India’s efforts will be targeted towards achieving time-bound outcomes related to energy efficiency.
 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asserted that developing countries “cannot, and will not” compromise on development in the context of climate change.
“The challenge before the developing world is how to achieve our developmental goals while at the same time minimising ecological costs. Our per capita consumption of primary energy is less than one-fourth of the world average and our per capita emission of CO2 is among the lowest in the world. Moreover, the energy intensity of our output has been continuously declining in the last 30 years,” said Singh while addressing the New Delhi High Level Conference on Climate Change here today.
In the run-up to the Copehnagen summit, India also asked rich nations to make “serious” efforts to bring down their greenhouse gas emissions to tolerable levels. The climate change summit in Copenhagen in December is expected to deliberate and finalise a successor to the Kyoto Protocol to tackle global warming.
“I have stated earlier that we stand committed to ensure that our per capita carbon emissions will never exceed the average of the per capita carbon emissions of developed countries. Equating GHG emissions across nations on a per capita basis is the only just and fair basis for a long-term global arrangement on climate change which is truly equitable,” he reiterated.
“Industrialised countries have the capacity to shift to new energy efficient processes even if it involves additional costs. Developing countries do not have this capacity and it is therefore only appropriate that the shift in their case should be facilitated by adequate financial support,” said Singh making it clear that there was no shift in India’s stand on climate change negotiations.
The PM also said the focus of India’s efforts will be targeted towards achieving time-bound outcomes related to the energy efficiency of its economy, the share of renewable in its fuel mix and several other sector specific initiatives. Singh said India will adopt “purposive domestic actions” to enhance its climate change management with a focus on achieving time-bound outcomes related to the energy efficiency of its economy, the share of renewable in our fuel mix and several other sector specific initiatives.
Moreover, India has proposed the setting up of an international network of Climate Innovation Centres (CICs) which should act as vehicles for enhancing technology innovation and capacity building in developing countries.” These Centres could assess and identify locally-relevant key technologies and support their successful and faster development and deployment by focussing on a key technological product that addresses climate change. Their task may also include addressing the diverse range of capacity, business and regulatory barriers to the development and diffusion of the specific technologies. The CICs in different countries may also cross-fertilize each other by sharing of “learning-by-doing” experience,” noted Singh.
The PM said that technology and its diffusion will be a key element in meeting the challenge of climate change. “The key issue before us is that of developing the appropriate technologies and then collapsing the time from their first commercialisation to their large-scale adoption in poorer developing countries. We need technology solutions that are appropriate, that are affordable and that are truly effective. They have to be backed by the establishment of appropriate financial arrangements. Initially however, the transition in developing countries will need critical financial support,” said Singh. Emphasising that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) should play a leading role in directing effective and collaborative actions in this vital area, he said that continuation of the process of incentivising the adoption of climate friendly technologies in developing countries in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol should be a priority global concern.
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