India to tackle climate change domestically

With no breakthrough in sight, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said India should not expect much from the Copenhagen conference that was to find out a roadmap on emission reduction for the globe after 2012. 

“Don’t expect anything much from Copenhagen. We will stick to our stand,” Ramesh told reporters here while releasing the State of World Population Report 2009.

Ramesh led an Indian delegation to a ministerial meeting on Copenhagen earlier this week, which was to discuss a face-saving political statement for the summit as it has become more or less evident that a legally-binding emission capping treaty would not materialise in Copenhagen. 

US Energy secretary Steven Chu has stated that US would not address the commitment issue in Copenhagen as the American Clean Energy and Securities Act was passed by only the House of Representatives and was pending in the Senate. Unless the political process is complete, the Obama administration is not expected to make any capping commitments. This was conveyed to and agreed upon by China.

The situation has become more precarious in the wake of Denmark’s last-ditch attempt to rescue the situation by approaching the heads of states from 50 countries requesting their presence in Copenhagen in the December 7-18 summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change so that at least a political statement can be delivered.

But even the political statement seems unlikely because of the pressure tactics adopted by the developed world in order to force India and China to take up legally-binding commitments on emission cuts. This is not acceptable to India. Ramesh said India will take proactive steps domestically to tackle climate change.