India to draw road map for low-carbon growth

Addressing a press conference here, he said the terms of reference of the group would be finalised in a couple of days. It would be asked to submit its report in three or four months.

Getting down to implement a comprehensive domestic agenda of adaptation and mitigation and seeking to reduce the emission intensity of gross domestic product by 20-25 per cent by 2020, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday asked the Planning Commission to set up a group of experts to draw a road map for low-carbon growth.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the terms of reference of the group would be finalised in a couple of days. It would be asked to submit its report in three or four months. “We must soon unveil a detailed road map for a low-carbon strategy.”

India has committed itself to cutting its carbon emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020 of the 2005 levels.

Mr. Ramesh said India must learn from China, which negotiated its domestic action at the Copenhagen Summit. “We, too, have to work like China by focussing on climate diplomacy and domestic actions.” India must strengthen its scientific capacity to measure, monitor and model the impacts of climate change on different sectors of its economy and different regions.

Pointing out that the BASIC group (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) emerged a powerful force in the negotiations and their unity was instrumental in ensuring that the Copenhagen Accord was finalised, Mr. Ramesh said the Environment Ministers of these countries would meet in March in New Delhi to discuss the approach to be taken at the June 2010 Ministerial Conference in Bonn, and the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Mexico City in December.

Rejecting the charge that India had walked out of G-77, he said: “We would continue to work together with these countries as well as other countries of the G-77 to ensure that the interests of the developing countries, India in particular, are protected in the course of the negotiations in 2010 and beyond.” He said: “I went to Copenhagen to protect India’s right to development. For the West, climate change is an environmental issue, but for us it is a development issue.”

“It would be unfair to say that we have abandoned G-77, but there certainly is one criticism that the host country did not handle a large consultation process very well. There were communication gaps.”