India will ratify its U.N. climate change commitments next month to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary and as a tribute to Deendayal Upadhyaya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday.
“On October 2, we will ratify it. Mahatma Gandhi’s life perhaps left the least carbon footprint on earth. We follow his ideals and India will play its part in ratifying the Paris agreement,” Mr Modi told delegates at the BJP’s national council meeting in Kozhikode.
The announcement comes a day before External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is expected to speak at the U.N. General Assembly.
The Prime Minister’s announcement was welcomed by the US government that said it was “thrilled”. “We are very excited to hear the PM's announcement today on India's intention to ratify the Paris Agreement early next month,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal told The Hindu.
While the U.S. has welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that India would ratify the Paris Climate Change agreement on October 2, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal denied that India’s ratification to the COP 21 protocol implied movement on India’s membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Speaking exclusively to The Hindu , Ms Biswal said, “I don't think the two are linked but nonetheless, the United States is very clear and emphatic that India is ready for membership in the NSG,” adding that the U.S. is in “discussions with India and with the NSG members on the way forward.”
Bargaining chip? The Climate Change ratification was also seen as a possible bargaining chip in exchange for India’s membership to the NSG. In a statement in June after the Seoul session, the Ministry of External Affairs said that “an early positive decision by the NSG would have allowed us to move forward on the Paris Agreement.”
India’s announcement comes just three weeks after the government said it could not commit to the ratification by year end due to “domestic procedures”, and is believed to be the result of several rounds of India-U.S. negotiations, including between Prime Minister Modi and U.S. President Obama in Laos this year and earlier in June in Washington. The U.S. has been keen to see the treaty brought into force by the end of President Obama’s tenure as his “legacy”, a senior official privy to those meetings said.
Welcoming Mr Modi’s announcement, Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh said the earlier statement was “needless and thoughtless posturing.”
“India should have ratified proactively and gracefully, not [have] to be told to fall in line,” he told The Hindu , alleging that the U.S. was responsible for the Prime Minister’s announcement.
Ahead of Marrakesh meet The U.N. Climate Change treaty agreed to at the Paris summit in November 2015, enters into force only after 55 countries, accounting in total for 55 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions, ratify it.
India accounts for about 6 per cent of global emissions, and is expected to join a group of countries that will ratify the agreement by the next U.N. Climate Conference in Marrakesh on November 7.
The ratification announcement of the Paris agreement was also welcomed by climate change experts as the government’s “finest hour” on the issue. “India has preserved sufficient space to grow conventional energy while being ambitious in its renewable energy targets.
It was unnecessary to link climate agreement to either NSG or to U.S. support on any other matter,” added ORF Vice President and climate change consultant Samir Saran.
(With inputs from Varghese K. George in Washington & Nistula Hebbar in Kozhikode)
