India rejects US carbon emissions pressure
Updated
India has also rejected US pressure to curb its greenhouse gas emissions telling visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that India is among one of the lowest emitting countries per capita in the world.
India argues that with half a billion of its people without electricity, the US and other developed nations have no right to call for a slowdown in development.
Presenter: Bo Hill
Speakers: Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State; Jairam Ramesh, India's Environment and Forests Minister; Shyam Saran, Indian PM's Special Envoy on Climate Change; Preeti Malhotra, India director, The Climate Group
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HILL: She's the US's top diplomat... so it's not surprising that on her maiden visit to India as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton would be avoiding pushing any of the wrong buttons.
CLINTON: The United States does not and will not do anything that would limit India's economic progress.
HILL: Relations between the US and India are looking better than they have for the past five decades. But American pressure on India to curb its greenhouse gas emissions is cause for complaint in New Delhi, and despite Mrs Clinton's upbeat assessment of talks with India's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh... he was still cautious.
RAMESH: I would like to make it clear and categorical India's position is that we are simply not in a position to take on legally binding emission reduction targets.
HILL: The difficult choice that Mr Ramesh and his government colleagues face is a battle for clean air, enough water, or enough jobs. Much of India's population lives in rural and coastal areas, making them vulnerable to the devastation of agricultural lands and rising sea levels brought on by global warming. This year many of India's rice farmers face a reduction or destruction of their crop because of a long delay before the break of the monsoon. Elsewhere flooding has wreaked havoc; tough weather patterns blamed on climate change. Like many developing, and developed nations, India is reluctant to step too far forward on carbon emissions, a major cause of climate change. The Indian prime minister's special envoy on climate change, Shyam Saran, says India's emissions will rise before they fall.
SARAN: India is spending 2 to 2.5 per cent of its GDP on adaptation measures - that means that much of your GDP is not available for improving the living standards of your people. So is that not a sacrifice that we are making? With no compensation whatsoever coming from anyone.
HILL: Mr Saran says there are nearly half a billion Indians without electricity, who are unlikely to want to stand aside for climate change initiatives. A preliminary World Bank study earlier this year showed India couldn't cut emissions by 2030 without keeping its people in poverty. For developed nations pushing for a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol at this year's climate negotiations in Copenhagen, reluctance on the part of booming nations like China and India is a cause for concern. But Preeti Malhotra, the India director of international climate action organisation The Climate Group, says India's caution is not a rejection of an international deal.
MALHOTRA: It depends on how one defines success at Copenhagen. Obviously for developed countries, a success is where countries like India accept legally binding cuts. I think one needs to be very careful about this particular word. I think what India is saying is that it's not going to shy away from its responsibilities, so it will do all it can, and if finance and technology comes the way of India it will more than it can, but please do not give us legally binding emission cuts.
HILL: The US has promised to help developing countries reach emissions targets, and with a possible 10 billion dollars worth of business for American firms waiting on a weapons technology deal with New Delhi, Hillary Clinton like the Indian environment minister, knows it the Indian voters she must sell to.
CLINTON: I am very confident and even more so after the discussion we just had, led by the minister, that the United States and India can devise a plan that will dramatically change the way we produce, consume and conserve energy and in the process spark an explosion of new investment and millions of jobs.
