At Paris Climate Summit, a Battle of Perception For India

Representatives from 196 countries at the global climate change summit in Paris are hoping to hammer out a deal by December 11. But questions are being asked about whether it will be enough cut emissions enough to keep global average temperatures from riding beyond 2 degrees.

The foreign media has been painting India as the fly in the ointment. In the hard lines drawn between developed and developing nations, India's position that a deal be equitable and framed under the UN convention's common but differentiated responsibilities, is being portrayed as a problem.

Jake Schmidt, the director of Natural Resources Defence Council and a US national, said, "I think India is being perceived as a villain in the western media in particular, but there is a chance that the tune will change in what happens in the rest of this time."

Reiterating India's position, environment minister Prakash Javadekar has clearly stated that coal production and usage in India is still at one-fifth of US levels.

India has repeatedly asked for developed nations to vacate the available carbon space to allow developing countries to grow. There are 300 million people in India without power and the government sees bringing them into the development ambit as imperative.

The minister also pointed out that while India is one-tenth of the US in terms of per capita emissions, it is a lot more vulnerable to climate change.

China, which has been seen as a major problem in prior years, has escaped scrutiny this time due to their bilateral agreement with America prior to COP21, in which they have agreed to cap peak emissions by 2030.

China has, however, has stated that they will stand by India.  Gao Feng, special representative at climate change, Chinese foreign ministry, said, "In the climate change context, it has been 25 years since China and India worked together all the way down to Paris. In this context, we will always stand together."

The US  has a bad track record at these negotiations of not supporting anything that does not diminish differences between them and the developing world as evidenced by their not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and will not stand for any deal that does not diminish differences between them and the developing world especially India.

The developed world has also not honoured their financial and tech transfer promises made to developing world in previous COPs, raising serious questions about the validity of any deal made.