To counter the pressure from the developed countries to further cut emissions, India is preparing an alliance of nations that get ample sunshine to form a united front. At the 2015 Paris Climate Conference or COP-21 next week, India will once again reiterate the need for ‘climate justice’.“Our stance for climate justice is very clear. India’s share of global carbon emissions is just 2-2.5 per cent. We are far lower than any of the developed economies. We are very clear that the space for carbon emissions has to be vacated by the developed countries for the development needs of emerging economies,” said Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy.
A senior government official told BusinessLine: “There is a lot of pressure on India to buy technology from the developed world for our renewable energy projects. We have, therefore, initiated work to bring on board countries that get enough sunshine to undertake research and development for solar power equipment.” The initiative, which is likely to be dubbed the International Solar Alliance, already has 17 countries on board, according to the official.
Lack of commitment
India also plans to raise the issue of lack of commitment by developed countries on the finance and technology front.A senior official at the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change said, “The profound truth is that it will be very difficult to get the developed world to live up to their commitment of $100 billion a year that they have been repeating since 2009.” “However, India will demand a scaling up of this commitment for the year beyond 2020. Our position is that since there has been back slicing on the commitment so far, unless there is a roadmap of raising this resource, the uncertainty will continue,” the official added.
Another issue which India will contest is the focus on mitigation goal by developed countries.The Environment Ministry official also maintained that India is well below its fair share of emissions. “Our fair share of emission would have been 17 per cent. We have been on the positive side of scenario… US wanted to divide and their game plan is already on.”The official was referring to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s remark that New Delhi will be a ‘challenge’ at the upcoming COP-21.
Source: BL
