Developing nations should not expect technology, finance assistance: Saran

The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Shyam Saran, today reiterated that the Copenhagen climate change summit beginning on December 7 would not involve a firm binding commitment on India to cut its carbon emissions. Speaking at an event here, jointly held by National Thermal Power Corporation and the Confederation of Indian Industry, he added that developing countries should also not expect any financial or technical assistance from developed nations to help reduce their carbon footprint.

“Despite the very strong pressure being put by developing countries including India, it is unlikely that we may have a legally binding outcome of these negotiations,” he said, adding that even the non-binding commitments likely to be made by the developed nations could be “weak in numbers”.

“If we take all the offers which are on the table, it will add up to 15-20 per cent reduction in total emissions at the most, of developed countries by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. This is even far below the conservative 25 per cent that has been projected by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the minimum that is required to prevent catastrophic climate change,” he said.

“As far as the major developing countries are concerned, neither are you going to get any technology nor are you going to get financial resources. So, if there is any expectation that somehow from Copenhagen, we will have access to cutting-edge technology to deal with our energy challenge, that’s not going to happen,” said Saran.

Saran also equated China’s recent pledge to reduce carbon intensity with India’s voluntary steps to stem emissions in its economy. Asked about India’s position on committing on emission cut target, Saran said: “We have already indicated our energy efficiency targets. We did it before China did. That is the target. We have said 20 per cent improvement in energy efficiency by 2020.”