India opposes protectionism under green label: Saran

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Mar 25 (PTI) India Wednesday objected to
attempts being made to club the country along with "major
emitters" of green house gases and warned the developed world
against sneaking in "protectionism under green label" garb.

The attempt to club India together with so-called major
emitters is misleading and unfair, Shyam Saran, Indian Prime
Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change, said.

"We do not believe that we are major emitters," he said
while while responding to questions from the audience at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a prestigious
Washington-based think-tank here.

"The latest data shows that while US and China are each
responsible for about 20 per cent of global CO2 (carbon
dioxide) emissions, India, with its billion plus population,
generates only four per cent of such emissions, he said while
speaking on the topic, "India's Climate Change Initiatives:
Strategies for a Greener Future."

He said that as against a per capita CO2 emission of 20
tonnes for the US, India accounts for only 1.8 tonnes per
capita," he said.

Earlier, addressing a meeting of US corporate leaders
organised by the US India Business Council (USIBC) here, Saran
sought a partnership with the US in renewable energy to meet
the growing challenge of climate change.

With the Obama Administration focusing on clean and
renewable energy to jump-start its recession-hit economy, an
Indo-US partnership between them, after the civilian nuclear
deal, is essential to jointly meet the challenges of climate
change, Saran said.

Welcoming President Barack Obama's Renewable Energy
Initiative, he said: "The first component of our strategy for
the future, for both Indian and US business is a renewable
energy partnership covering different technological pathways
and focusing on technology and product development."

He said that the world is on the cusp of an energy
revolution and that it was becoming apparent that current
trends of growth of the global economy, in particular the
growth of India and China, cannot be sustained by the
accelerated depletion of fossil fuels.

"The challenge before us now lies in translating these
opportunities into practical collaborative partnerships on a
scale and of a quality that befits the strategic partnership
between our two countries," he said.

Saran also cautioned the developed world, the US and
European countries in particular, to avoid any attempt to
sneak in "protectionism under green label" as this would hurt
their global efforts to successfully meet the challenges posed
by climate change.

"We should not open doors for protectionism under green
label. That is something, which would be a very negative
development," he said.

Saran is in the US to have a series of high-level meeting
with top officials of Obama Administration on issues related
to climate change and clean energy, which has been a major
focus areas for the new US government.

"Bringing in trade competitive or industrial competitive
issues would only complicate the effort that we are trying to
make to come up with a global regime, which is as I mentioned
(needs to be) fair and equitable," Saran said cautioning the
developed world from indulging in such a endeavour.

"Most developing countries will argue that we are already
starting with a very unleveled playing field," Saran said.

"If you look at the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCC), which remains the only consensus legal
instrument to deal with the issue of climate change, action on
climate change by all countries of the world is not
conditional upon any trade or investment related matters,"
Saran said in reply to a question on this issue.

"So this has been very deliberately kept out of the
action that is required with respect to climate change. What
the UNFCC had envisaged and what we developing countries feel
is that what you need is a global collaborative effort to
address the issue of climate change and not something which
gets linked up with issue of level playing field," Saran said.

Saran also hoped that the 15th COP in Copenhagen will
deliver a fair and equitable, and also an ambitious outcome
based on the UNFCCC and the Bali Action Plan.

"India is prepared to work together with the US towards
this objective. This will provide a global environment for not
only the successful implementation of our Action Plan but to
enable its significant scaling up," he said.

"India's main interest in the multilateral negotiations
leading up to the 15th Conference of Parties in Copenhagen is
to ensure the emergence of a global regime, under the UNFCCC,
which would be development-oriented and supportive of our own
ambitious national efforts on Climate Change, both in
Mitigation and in Adaptation," Saran said. PTI