Hillary cautions India from treading high-carbon path

Mumbai, Jul 18 (PTI) While supporting India's efforts
to eradicate poverty, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Saturday cautioned New Delhi from treading the high-carbon
path and repeating mistakes committed by Americans in
contributing to global pollution.

"We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have
made mistakes in the US and we, along with other developed
countries have contributed most significantly to the problem
that we face with climate change...," she said at a press
conference here.

But "we are hoping a great country like India will not
make the same mistake," she said.

Clinton, who is on a five-day visit to India, was
echoing the sentiments of the US President who in Italy early
this year had stated that the US had "sometimes fallen short"
of its responsibilities in controlling carbon emissions.

However, she was silent on India's demand in which it
was seeking greater role of the developed countries including
USA in providing fund and technology for adaptation and
mitigation to combat threats of climate change.

Instead, she hoped that India would leapfrog the dirty
technologies that are leading to climate change while tackling
the issue of poverty to uplift the life of its teeming
population.

"Just as India went from a few years ago having very
few mobile phones to now having more than 500 million cell
phones by leapfroging over the infrastructure we built for
telephone service, we believe it is entrepreneurial enough to
figure out how to deal with climate change while continuing to
lift people out of poverty and develop at a rapid rate," she
added.

The latest data shows that while US is responsible for
about 20 per cent of global CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions,
India, with its billion plus population, accounts for only 1.8
tonnes per capita.

At the international forum, India has been expressing
its willingness to do more provided "there were credible
arrangements to provide both additional financial support as
well as technological transfers from developed to developing
countries."

Emphasising that the problem of climate change cannot
be addressed by "perpetuating the poverty" of developing
countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently said in
Parliament that as a responsible member of the international
community, we recognise our obligation to preserve and protect
our environment.

"We are willing to do more provided there are credible
arrangements to provide both additional financial support as
well as technological transfers from developed to developing
nations," he had said. PTI AJ
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