Indian emission will meet economic aspirations, says PM
In the face of growing global pressure on limiting carbon dioxide emission, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that Indian emission will continue to rise to meet national economic aspirations.
However, India can lower its emission by increasing energy efficiency, provided there is a technology flow and financial support from the developed nations. “As GDP rises, our energy use and total emissions will rise unless new technology enables us to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions intensity,” Singh said inaugurating a climate change conference in Delhi on Thursday.
UN climate negotiator Yvo De Boer, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, later said developing nations like India at least need to restrict its emission growth if not curtail it altogether. That’s the expectation of the world.
Boer also made it clear that India could achieve that only after receiving international funding and technology.
The rich countries have to take up the tab. Singh cited examples of international fusion energy project ITER or the Consultative Group of International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) – that ushered in Green Revolution – as a model for collaboration benefiting many countries.
His alternate suggestion was to emulate the HIV/AIDS model. Internationally there is an informal arrangement between AIDS drug manufacturers and NGOs like Medicine Sans Frontier and Clinton Foundation to procure first line HIV drugs for poorer nations at a subsidised cost.
“In HIV/AIDS, it is one or two medicines made by a handful of companies. In climate change it is tens of thousands of technology developed by thousands of companies,” Boer said.
