Saturday, July 5, 2008

India may face pressure to reduce greenhouse gases

The Hindu (India): As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sets out for Hokkaido, Japan, on Monday to attend the G-8 Plus Five Summit and the Major Economies Meeting (MEM) on Energy Security and Climate Change, he should expect immense pressure upon India and other developing countries at these forums for commitments to quantified reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the post-Kyoto period after 2012.

India is participating in the Summit as one of the five “Outreach Countries” that include India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico and as one of the 17 major economies that include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, South Africa, the U.K. and the U.S. as well as the E.U. (and the EC).

Notwithstanding Dr. Singh’s statement at the last G-8 Summit at Heiligendamm in 2007 that the per capita emissions of India will at no time exceed that of developed countries, the developed countries, the U.S. in particular, would like to see a definitive shift from this qualitative premise to quantified reduction targets, especially after its recent announcement of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) on June 30. The NAPCC too seeks only a qualitative shift towards a low carbon developmental path. Indeed, it would seem that the deadline of June 2008 was set to enable India to present the NAPCC at the Summit and the MEM.….

Photo of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Ricardo Stuckert/PR, for AgĂȘncia Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency. Their website states: "The content of this website is published under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.5 Brazil"

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