New Delhi: Environmentalists and countries are gearing up for the crucial Copenhagen summit on climate change in December ahead of that India released 5 independent indigenous studies that showed even if India continues to develop at the current rate. Our emission levels in the next twenty years will stay well below the 2005 global average. This will help India in negotiations at Copenhagen.
This could be India's chance to get even at Copenhagen at the UN summit on climate change this December. Our first internal greenhouse gas emissions assessment, a report that says even two decades from now when our emissions may rise it would still be much below the average global emissions of 2005.
"This is a report based on five different studies. While the results vary slightly, even the highest projection is well below what other developed countries want to achieve," says Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
At the G8 Summit this July, India and China were pressured to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by the next decade. But developed countries set themselves a target of 80 per cent emission cut by 2050.
Till now all global emission reports have been drafted by G8 countries that many allege, do not consider ground realities. With this internal report, a result of five independent studies, India has strengthened its defence.
Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh says, "This report has only helped us strengthen our negotiating position because it clearly states that at no point will our per capita emissions ever be more than that of the developed world."
Emissions battle: India vs G8 2031: India's per capita emissions under 4 tonnes of CO2e 2005: global capita emission 4.22 tonnes of CO2e
(Source: India's GHG Emissions Profile Report, 2009)
As India gets set to travel to Copenhagen in December where a successor to the Kyoto Protocol is likely to be inked, it's quite clear that India is busy padding up its case and will stick to its prior stand of not giving in to binding emission cuts.