No peak in sight for India

Contrary to the popular belief and rumours in the media about India’s stand on emission reduction, sources inside the delegation room has revealed it has no such agenda in mind for Lima talks

Just when the climate talks at Lima is about to wrap up for week one, and negotiators and other delegates were gearing up for the much-awaited legendary CAN party, India decided to drop a bomb at the COP carpet: Peaking of emission is not in near-term agenda of India.

India’s Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar has said, shortly before boarding the flight to Lima, that peaking year is not an issue to be discussed in Lima. Moreover, India has also refused to announce a timeline to cap its emissions, notwithstanding China —also a BASIC partner — committing to a 2030 deadline in a deal with the US in October.

At present, China’s carbon emissions are 9,000 million tonnes and it is expected to grow in between 18,000-20,000 million tonnes in 2030, which is about 12-13 tonnes per capita. The minister noted that India’s per capita carbon dioxide emission is much lesser than that of China.

A key source inside Indian delegation room has confirmed that India is unlikely to submit its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions before June next year.

On being asked about India’s tentative position on its proposed submission the negotiator said that India is yet to approve the final draft. “The decision of when to submit our INDCs will be taken after consultations at the highest level”, a key negotiator said. However, he said that while peaking of emission is not in the mind of the country, it has plans to ramp up solar power capacity five-fold to 100 GW by 2030. India has argued that contributions to INDCs cannot be just about emission reduction but need to include efforts to adapt to climate change, and providing finance, technology, and capacity building to developing countries.

Since the US-China climate agreement there has been a great deal of interest in India’s plans to tackle carbon emissions. After the two biggest emitters committed to cut down on its emissions, India emerged as the new whipping boy. Under the deal the US will reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent below the 2005 levels by 2025. China, on its part, intends to achieve the peaking of carbon emissions around 2030 and make best efforts to peak early and intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20per cent by 2030.

Experts have argued that India’s per capita emissions at 1.7 tonnes are way below China and the US. Even if India continues in its trajectory the per capita emission of India may reach 4 tonnes by 2030.

As expected following the Warsaw talks India made a strong pitch for giving more emphasis to adaptation measures in the new agreement, while rich and developed countries are more obsessed with mitigation (emission reduction) efforts and goals. Susheel Kumar, a key Indian negotiator at COP20, said that although mitigation is important in the effort to tackle climate change, adaptation needs to be in the new agreement in a “comprehensive and balanced manner”. Mr Kumar further said, “We would also like a long term global goal for adaptation to be clearly articulated in qualitative and quantitative terms”. The remark assume significance in view of India’s current position where it wants the 2015 agreement to focus more adaptation than on mitigation, batting for most developing countries which are focussing on ‘development’. The narrative of adaptation has gained prominence after the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power earlier this year.

It is clear that India wants the rich nations to play a major role in terms of mitigation whereas the adaptation efforts may compulsorily be made by each and every country of the world with the mandatory support of developed countries in terms of finance and technology transfer. India also backed the demand of the most vulnerable countries that the issue of Loss and Damage should be given adequate separate space in the 2015 agreement.

Reports point that India will also stress on the hike in the coal cess, which was doubled from ₹50 per tonne to ₹100 in the Union Budget in July this year. Proceeds from the cess are collected in the National Clean Energy Fund, which the government plans to use for, among other things, improving research and development in the area of clean energy, according to a report at The Economic Times. It will also highlight the setting up of a domestic Adaptation Fund. India has been emphasising at global forums the need to make adapting to climate change an integral part of the new agreement that is to be linked in Paris next year.