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Intervention by External Affairs Minister at the Round
Table during the Climate Change meeting at the UN on 22 Sep 2009
22/09/2009
Hon’ble Co-Chairs.
Permit me to begin by appreciating the admirable manner in which you are
guiding our discussions. I am also appreciative of the Secretary General
for convening this meeting.
It is imperative that our meeting galvanizes political momentum for the
real negotiations at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Hon’ble Co-Chairs,
India faces one of the most enormous development challenges in the
world. Nearly 200 millions live on less than 1$ a day and nearly 500
million do not have access to modern sources of energy.
Our overriding priority, therefore, has to be eradication of poverty for
which we must address our energy poverty and use all sources of energy,
including fossil fuels.
Climate change has now posed for us a huge adaptation challenge too as
we are severely affected.
We have a major interest in ensuring a substantive and constructive
outcome in Copenhagen and we will be part of the solution, even though
India has not caused the problem in any way.
The outcome must be rooted in equity and respect the provisions and
principles of the Convention, especially common but differentiated
responsibilities and also historical responsibility.
It must also ensure that developing countries can pursue accelerated
development, also so that they have the resources to cope and adapt to
climate change.
Hon’ble Co-Chairs,
The background paper for today’s event has posed important questions
with the one on lifestyles, perhaps, being the most pertinent.
Here we cannot get away from the fundamental fact that unsustainable
lifestyles and patterns of production and consumption in the developed
world have caused climate change. This cannot continue.
And, the way forward must ensure that developing countries can pursue
growth and poverty eradication.
Scientific evidence suggests limiting global emissions by the middle of
this century to a level that would keep the temperature rise to 2
degrees Celsius.
It is imperative that this aspirational global goal includes an
equitable burden sharing and that all citizens of the world have an
equal right to the global resource of the atmosphere.
Moreover, developed countries must commit and deliver on significant
reduction in their emissions of at least 40% by 2020 from the agreed
1990 baseline.
Hon’ble Co-Chairs,
India’s per-capita emissions are only around 1 tonne of CO2 equivalent
per annum, which is a quarter of the global average and half that of the
developing countries as a whole. Moreover, our contribution to the stock
of carbon dioxide is negligible.
We have also repeatedly reaffirmed that our per-capita emissions would
never exceed the average per capita emissions of the developed
countries, even as we pursue our development objectives.
We are taking many domestic adaptation and mitigation actions on a
voluntary and systematic basis.
These include national missions and other actions in the area of solar
energy, extensive deployment of renewables, use of clean coal
technologies, boosting energy efficiency, adoption of green building
codes, large scale reforestation efforts and promotion of green
agriculture, among others.
Many of the mitigation efforts in different sectors like energy,
transport, industry, agriculture and forestry will have specific
quantitative and time-bound domestic goals, with even mid-term
deadlines, that would enable our national democratic institutions to
monitor and check their implementation.
The creation of mechanisms along with provision of financial resources
and access to technology which will enable us to upscale our national
efforts is an important expectation that we have from Copenhagen.
Naturally, efforts that are supported by external sources will be
subject to international monitoring, but it is important that the
ambition levels of domestic actions are not crimped by an international
review obligation.
And while private funding is important, government commitment for
funding, both for mitigation and adaptation, has to be a key element, to
ensure predictability and to catalyze other flows.
For new green technologies to be deployed effectively in the developing
world, rewards for innovators would need to be balanced with the needs
of humankind. This, along with collaborative R&D activities, I believe
is the critical piece of the climate puzzle.
In this connection, I would like to mention here that India is
organizing a major conference on technology cooperation for climate
change in collaboration with the United Nations in Delhi in October this
year. This Conference will feed into Copenhagen substantively.
Hon’ble Co-Chairs,
Climate negotiations should be focusing on the developed countries from
where the problem has emanated and who are reluctant even to meet their
commitments on emission reduction, let alone provide technological and
financial support to developing countries on the vast scale that is
required.
Instead, the onus for action is sought to be shifted to developing
countries, which have contributed little to the accumulation of
greenhouse gasses and face the huge burden of adaptation.
Protectionist trade and border tax response measures, which basically
seek to protect their competitiveness, are being talked about in
developed countries under the garb of climate change.
And, regarding financial resources for developing countries, even in so
far as the minimalist amounts that appear forthcoming, all efforts are
underway to ensure that their governance remains outside the UNFCCC and
squarely in control of developed countries.
There is a tide of change in world economic relations. Climate
negotiations should not seek to stem this tide.
Thank you.
New York
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