JOIN USEmission cut announcement likely in LS
The decision may formally be announced by Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Carbon intensity is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of GDP.
It is not clear at the moment how much the reduction would mean in terms of cutting down the volume of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Neither Ramesh nor officials in the Union environment ministry and Prime Minister’s Office confirm the developments. But there are indications that it may be announced when the Lok Sabha takes up a discussion on climate change under Rule 193.
Carbon intensity reduction means improving the energy efficiency of major polluters like manufacturing and power industries as well as the transport sector so that they spew out less green houses gases in the atmosphere. The two most crucial GHG are carbon dioxide and methane.
The improvement is typically associated with infusion of new technologies. Many a time, the technologies are expensive and required to be imported.
The Indian cut has been estimated to lead to 37 per cent emission reduction from 2005 level by 2030.
The intensity reduction figures are believed to have been based on a projection that the country would achieve 20 per cent energy efficiency by 2020 from 2007 level.
China adopted exactly the approach when it announced reducing its carbon intensity by 40-45 per cent from the 2005 level by 2020. Beijing’s decision was widely appreciated by the world. Being two of the largest polluters, India and China were under enormous global pressure to bring down their emission level.
The two emerging economies resisted the pressure for long arguing that their per capita emission is way behind that of the US and the European Union. However, less than a month before the climate summit, beginning on December 7, hopes for an acceptable solution to both developed and developing countries appear to have emerged with Beijing and Washington announcing their willingness to undertake some emission cuts. India is set to join the club as it wished to be projected as a “deal-maker and not a deal-breaker.”
Both US President Barack Obama and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will attend the climate summit bringing enormous pressure on Singh to participate. However, Singh is yet to take a decision.
“India is at the crossroads. There is enormous pressure on the Prime Minister to be present at Copenhagen and announce some quantitative commitments similar to what China has done,” R K Pachauri, chairman of UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said here on Tuesday.