[Already, more than 30 countries have produced proposals for the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which negotiators hope will
lead to a landmark pact in Paris in December. This includes the United States, which pledged
to lower its total carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, compared with
2005 levels.]
By Annie Gowen
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Workers walk through the site of the France-India Solar
Park project
in Muradwala. The French hosts of the UN Climate summit
have insisted
that combatting global warming would not undermine
efforts to fight poverty
as they lobbied for India's support in cutting
emissions.
(NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images)
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NEW DELHI — During speeches in recent weeks, India’s prime minister has
derided developed countries that “destroyed nature,” has touted his own solar
projects and has even said yoga might help fight climate change.
From New Delhi to Berlin, Narendra Modi has called for India to take a
leading role in the “pressing global problem” of climate change, including
through lifestyle changes such as bicycling and leaving streetlights off on
full-moon nights.
Yet Modi has revealed little about the crucial dilemma India faces ahead of
global climate talks set for December — whether the country will pledge to
reduce its carbon emissions, the third-highest in the world.
“Too often, our discussion is reduced to an argument about emission cuts,”
Modi said in a speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization on April 10 in Paris. “But, we are more likely to succeed
if we offer affordable solutions, not simply impose choices.”
Modi was an early advocate of solar technology, and his government has
pledged to increase its solar-generated capacity to 100 gigawatts and its wind
capacity to 60 gigawatts by 2022. At the same time, the country is doubling its
coal production to fuel its growing economy and electricity needs.
Already, more than 30 countries have produced proposals for the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which negotiators hope will
lead to a landmark pact in Paris in December. This includes the United States, which pledged
to lower its total carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, compared with
2005 levels.
India is considering putting forward two proposals, Prakash Javadekar, the
country’s environment minister, said in an interview. The first would detail
what the country can do to combat climate change on its own, while the second
would be a more ambitious plan outlining moves that could be made with
international financial support, technology exchanges and incentives, Javadekar
said.
The stakes are huge: A deal in December could prevent some of the warming
expected to cause rising sea levels and extreme weather in coming decades.
The United States had hoped that it could negotiate a climate deal with
India that would complement the landmark agreement it struck in November with
China. But after weeks of harried negotiations in the days before Obama’s visit
to India in January, only modest measures materialized.
Obama took a parting shot, saying that if countries such as India with
“soaring energy needs” don’t also embrace cleaner fuels, “then we don’t stand a
chance against climate change.”
Since then, India has added the ambitious wind-power target to its massive
solar plan. While U.S. climate negotiators do not expect India to commit to
reducing carbon emissions by 2022, they say that new solar and wind generation
would lead to “a very significant reduction in their growth.”
“We have been encouraged by recent steps taken by India, and look forward to
ongoing cooperation as we work toward a global climate accord,” said Todd
Stern, U.S. special envoy for climate change. The Obama administration says it
is prepared to back wind and solar projects through the Export-Import Bank and
the Overseas Private Investment Corp.
In 2014, China was responsible for some 28 percent of the world’s carbon
emissions, followed by the United States (14 percent), the European Union (10
percent) and India (7 percent), according to the Global Carbon Project.
India is the world’s third-largest single-country emitter.
New Delhi has long argued that the developed nations that did more
historical harm to the environment now have a far greater responsibility toward
mitigating climate change. India puts out around 1.7 metric tons of carbon
emissions per capita, compared with 6.2 for China and 17.6 for the United
States, according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.
Modi has continued to hammer that point in recent days, chafing at the
“scolding” that India has received from industrialized countries.
“The whole world is posing questions to us. Those who have destroyed the
climate are asking questions to us,” Modi said in a speech Monday night to an
audience of Indian expatriates in Berlin. “If anybody has served nature, it is
the Indians.”
Indian officials also argue that the United States should be doing more,
noting that Europe has pledged to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 40
percent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels.
“There’s a general feeling within the government and outside that the U.S.
[proposal] is very, very modest,” said Chandra Bhushan, the deputy director of
the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi. “It has not impressed the
government of India. That is quite clear.”
Jairam Ramesh, the former environment minister who is the author of a book
titled “Green Signals:
Ecology, Growth and Democracy in India,” predicted
India’s pledge will include stronger commitments to renewable energy and cuts
to the intensity of the country’s emissions, rather than offering an overall
cut or naming a year in which emissions will “peak,” as China and Mexico have
done.
“It’s not going to be earthshattering,” Ramesh said in an interview.
Anybody who is expecting a revolutionary proposal from India on climate change
is “living in fool’s paradise.”
Steven Mufson in Washington contributed to this report.
