Global NGOs pressure India on climate change
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Climate games are on in right earnest on the eve of the UN conference on climate change in December. On Monday, a clutch of international NGOs put out a report warning that India faced grave threats from climate change and should therefore take immediate steps to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions — contrasting with the Indian government position that it is already doing enough and the onus lies on rich countries to take action.
The report, “Up in Smoke? Asia and the Pacific”, was released by representatives of Actionaid, Greenpeace, WWF and The Energy Research Institute (TERI) here, though it is authored by many other well known international NGOs, including Oxfam International and Christian Aid.
While the risks from climate change to India have been well enunciated earlier, the proactive push by such prominent international NGOs along with one of India’s key players, TERI, recommending action by India comes in opposition to the Indian government’s stance till date.
The line of action the NGOs demanded comes close on the heals and in uneasy consonance with UNDP’s Human Development Report team also demanding that India undertake emission cuts just as UK’s exadvisor Nicholas Stern had earlier on his visit to India. Indian government officials have pointed out that the noise from EU countries for India to undertake some or the other form of commitments—especially in the form of energy efficiency standards (voluntary or mandatory) in its various sectors—has been getting shriller with time. Shruti Shukla, coordinator for climate and energy policy, WWF-India, did clarify that it was at present not asking India to undertake any international commitments. But among the NGO
representatives present, there was reticence in stating their stance upfront with unanimity. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), another key NGO of India, said it had not agreed to the recommendations put out on Monday while the press release mentioned the organization’s name too as party to the report. K Srinivas of Greenpeace said India should undertake action to cut its emissions by increasing energy efficiency even if it costs more than US$2.5 trillion—a figure the Indian government has presented to international community calculating the cost of incremental investments if it undertakes emission cuts. While saying so, Srinivas admitted that he had only heard of the figures from newspapers and was not ready to stand by them.
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