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ENVIRONMENT-POLITICS: India-China Deal Reinforces Climate Stand

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 2009 (IPS) - India and China’s memorandum of understanding signed last week in this capital may have only had "a symbolic value," but it nevertheless showed that two of the world’s major players were serious about finding an alternative path to dealing with climate change while trying to attain sustainable development, said a top United Nations official.

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also told IPS that it was "unlikely that India or China would agree to ‘binding’ greenhouse gas (GhG) emission cuts before 2020 or compromise on their national interests’’. Yet their newly signed deal seeks to increase their cooperation on tackling climate change and specifically covers renewable energy and power efficiency.

The two major economies have both rejected calls from developed countries to set emission reduction targets ahead of the final round of climate change talks in Copenhagen. The December summit is expected to forge a new international treaty dealing with climate change. Pachauri said the weight of public opinion over the last three years has been such that there is "tremendous pressure on governments to work towards an agreement.’’

While India and China, regarded as among the world’s major polluters, are unlikely to compromise on any deal that cuts economic growth, experts are hopeful that a satisfactory global treaty will come through at Copenhagen.

On Oct. 21 China and India announced a joint plan to cut GhG emissions, suggesting that they were ready to consider an alternative climate treaty to what the developed economies are trying to get them to sign at Copenhagen. In their joint statement last week, they emphasised that the "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol are the most appropriate framework for addressing climate change".

The United States has rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol because it exempts developing countries, including India and China, from obligations to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases, or gases trapped in the atmosphere that create a warming effect, now popularly referred to as ‘global warming’. The Copenhagen summit aims to replace the Protocol, set to expire in 2012.

India and China have been trying with little success to get the developed countries, including the U.S., to agree to share clean-energy technology or to reduce their GhG emissions by 40 percent in 2020 from 1990 levels, as stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol.

The two countries together account for about one-fourth of the GhG emissions that scientists say are causing global warming and, as a consequence, rising sea levels, erratic weather patterns and increased intensity of droughts and storms. While China is regarded as the world’s worst polluter, India stands fourth.

After signing the India-China deal, Xie Zhenhua, vice minister of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, said, "India and China are most vulnerable to climate change. Both countries are in the process of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. I am confident that both China and India will make a positive contribution to Copenhagen."

Observers said the deal had roots in the 1996 Montreal Protocol when the two countries first put pressure on the developed countries to take responsibility for global warming and climate change.

"There is virtually no difference in the Indian and Chinese negotiating positions, and we will discuss further what the two countries can do for a successful outcome at Copenhagen," said environment minister Jairam Ramesh, who signed the memorandum for India. Both countries affirmed their demand that the developed must reduce emissions by five percent.

But there are differences in what the two Asian countries are seeking as part of commitments from the Western countries. China is not as keen on funds for development as it is on access to green technology while the reverse is true for India.

"What is important at this point is that the leadership in the developed countries is able to convince their people of the scientific realities of climate change and build support to make proactive commitments,’’ Pachauri said. He pointed to the U.S. Congress, which is "being constantly badgered by lobbyists that distort policy on climate and energy,’’ as a major stumbling block to a comprehensive deal at Copenhagen.

India, for its part, has pledged to keep its per-capita emissions below that of the wealthy nations. "Equating greenhouse-gas emissions across nations on a per-capita basis is the only just and fair basis for a long-term global arrangement on climate change," said the government in an official statement issued on Oct. 22.

India has also agreed to international monitoring of measures to tackle climate change, provided the funds and technology are made available.

Pachauri said any deal that is made at Copenhagen must ensure that responsibility for producing GhGs is not diluted and take into account the huge disparities that exist between the developed and developing nations. "There cannot be two levels of well-being on the same planet," he said.

According to a study released in September by the Pune-based environment and energy research group Prayas, India is already pursuing a low-carbon path due to low and declining energy intensity, and significant growth in carbon-free electric capacity.

The ‘Overview of India's Energy Trends: Low carbon Growth and Development Challenges’, undertaken in collaboration with Stanford University and the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, says that India is now among the top five countries in renewable energy capacity.

India’s carbon and energy use per unit of GDP are both already below that of the U.S. and China, and seem to be on a decreasing trend. India had about 12 vehicles per 1,000 people in 2007 compared to over 800 in the U.S.

India’s industrial electricity tariffs are, on average, the highest in the world. Gasoline and diesel prices are higher than those in the U.S. and China, even in market exchange terms. Indians consume only 1/11th of the meat eaten by an average Chinese and 1/25th of that eaten by an American.

The Prayas study further notes that India’s energy-related emissions need to grow, rather than reduce, in order to alleviate poverty and raise the country’s living standards.