PM backs Pachauri, IPCC

Backing R K Pachauri, the beleaguered chief of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who is under criticism for the goof-up in the organisation’s prediction of Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India had full confidence in the world body and its leadership.

The PM added the country would support IPCC in every possible way.

Defending both the UN panel and its chairman, the PM said the core projections of IPCC show the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment.

“Some aspects of the science that is reflected in the work of the IPCC have faced criticism. But this debate does not challenge the core projections of IPCC about the impact of greenhouse gas accumulation on temperature, rainfall and sea level rise,” the PM said while inaugurating the tenth Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.

He praised Pachauri’s role as chairman of The Energy and Research Institute (Teri) by saying it had “earned a well-deserved respect and international acclaim for its contributions to the global effort in meeting the twin challenges of energy security and climate change,” under his leadership.

On the issue of the Copenhagen climate change summit held last year, Singh said India fully supported the accord reached there and it would take it forward. He, however, made it clear that it was a catalogue of voluntary commitments and not a negotiated support of legal obligations.

The Copenhagen Accord decided to continue global discussions to fight climate change as it agreed in a non-legally binding manner to limit the rise in temperature below two degrees from the pre-industrial time, he told the three-day meet being attended by leaders from Norway, Finland, Bhutan, Greece and other countries.

Elaborating on the steps that India was taking for clean energy, the PM also said the goal was to reduce emissions intensity of the gross domestic product by 20-25 per cent by 2020 on the base levels of 2005.