Indian Climate Policy: Choices and Challenges - The Stimson Center

44 | MATHUR AND VARUGHESE
minute, and a maternal death every four minutes, 5 poverty is chronic. Four
hundred million people have no electricity and for many others it is not available
when required the most. 6 Consequently, the key Indian voices resist any
suggestion of action on climate change which could hamper the fight against
poverty and energy insecurity—at least without compensating finance and
suitable technologies from the West.
Within this frame of realities lies the Government of India’s official stance.
India’s official position is based on the principle that long-term convergence of
per capita emissions is “the only equitable basis for a global compact on climate
change.” 7 It is based on the belief that no negotiations are possible without
addressing the egregious equity issues due to the historical burden placed on poor
countries by industrialized countries—contributors of roughly 72 percent of
current GHG concentrations of 380 parts per million. Additionally, these
industrialized countries continue to emit at per capita rates that are multiples
higher than those of poor countries like India. Even so, some developed
countries are calling on India to shoulder binding quantitative emissions targets,
demands that New Delhi clearly resists. Yet Indian representatives are adamant
that the official position is not a negative attitude. Rather, it is the North which
has yet to demonstrate that it is serious about climate change by making tangible
cuts in its emissions—only then may India consider joining a treaty at
Copenhagen. 8
INDIA’S UNILATERAL ACTIONS
Patchy delivery on the Kyoto Protocol commitments by the Annex I countries
further fuels Indian unwillingness to accede to any demands for emission
reductions by developing countries. Political leaders and bureaucrats within the
country, however, have increasingly shown that the issue of climate change is
being considered with a comprehensive view of the gains and trade-offs involved
in various strategies and actions. In line with this, the country has on its own
started taking unilateral mitigation cuts over the next fifteen to twenty years as a
part of its development process—without, it must be said, jeopardizing economic
growth. Some of the domestic measures that have been announced include:
5 UNICEF. The State of The World’s Children 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health (New York: UNICEF, 2008).
6 World Bank. World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change (Washington, DC: World Bank,
2009).
7 Prime Minister’s Speech on Release of Climate Change Action Plan, 30 June 2008. The transcript can be found at
http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=690.
8 Kapur, Devesh, Radhika Khosla, and Pratap Bhanu Mehta. “Climate Change: India’s Options”. Economic &
Political Weekly, Vol.54, No.31 (2009).