Making ends meet

Written by Sturle hauge Simonsen

Thursday, 03 December 2009 15:31

New report illuminates potential areas for collaboration between the EU and India to curb greenhouse gas emissions in India.

If human-induced climate change is to have any hope of being limited to 2 degrees, it is essential that ways are found to address rapidly rising greenhouse gas emissions. India is in a particularly challenging situation: even though India's per capita emissions are very low, its1.5 billion people are collectively an increasingly bigger source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Different perspectives
The European Union wants India included in a future global climate agreement, including actions to limit emissions and fuller participation in global carbon markets. And while climate change is likely to exacerbate India's development challenges, continued economic development remains the overwhelming domestic priority.

But there are opportunities for partnership on activities that can contribute to both parties' objectives. The recently published report "Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in India" proposes potential middle ways between the EU's ambition to curb greenhouse gas emissions and India's domestic development priorities.

- India and the EU have voiced different perspectives on some key issues relating to a future climate change framework. Generally, the EU sees India as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions while India points to the past and argues that developed countries bear the responsibility to pay for mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. If efforts to tackle climate change are to be effective, the EU and India must find ways to bridge this gap and bring these perspectives into closer alignment, the report states.

Scant room for progress without international support
While the Indian government has already demonstrated political will by initiating some ambitious policy measures - particularly pertaining to solar energy and energy efficiency - the report argues that the effectiveness of international finance mechanisms and other forms of international partnership will be crucial in determining the success of greenhouse gas mitigation efforts.

- There is scant room for progress unless the international community plays a major role in providing financial and technological resources to support India's domestic efforts, it argues, highlighting the substantial scale of transformative change needed to shift India's emissions trajectory.

What to do
The report, which was commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Environment in preparation for the November 2009 EU-India Summit, recommends three areas where emissions can be curbed while also delivering development benefits to India:

- Implementing a clean-cooking stoves programme to reduce both the health and climate impacts of black carbon ("soot") emissions from India's very large non-commercial energy sector

- Developing a concrete package of support for solar energy development and deployment

- Identifying and tailoring high-efficiency technologies for deployment in the small and medium-sized industry sector

Download the report here