Letters: When only money talks

This refers to Sunita Narain's column "Revise India's climate strategy" (Down to Earth, December 22). The ultimate conclusion one can draw from the Lima climate talks is that the world is never going to cut its carbon emissions, as the primary focus of all the countries, whether they are developing or developed, would always be money and not environment. Developed countries would always shirk and shift their responsibility on climate change and developing countries would always want the developed countries to write them a $100-billion cheque. There will always be a temptation for developing countries to use cheaper options and not necessarily be part of a global effort to mitigate the climate change until they get funds from developed countries to use cleaner energy options as they are generally expensive.

It seems that even next year, in Paris, money will determine the success or failure of such talks. Developing countries must realise that currently most of the carbon emission comes from them. Therefore, rather than shirking the global responsibility, they should voluntarily take up mitigation measures. They need to realise that the catastrophic effects of climate change will not distinguish between developed and developing countries and affect them all equally.

Rajendra Singh Gandhinagar

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