Hope for COP15: India Ready for International Scrutiny of Mitigation Measures

In yet another positive news for international climate negotiations, India has announced that it is open to international review and reporting of its domestic mitigation measures. The step is a colossal change in India’s policy and is seen as a major boost to the chances of successful negotiation of new climate deal at Copenhagen this December.

India has long maintained that it is bound to report results of only internationally funded clean energy projects. The issue of reporting and accounting of carbon emission reduced has been a contentious issue for a long time. Deals on international funding have fallen apart in the past as developing countries refused approval to demands of developed nations for increased accountability in reporting emission reductions achieved by projects funded through international funding mechanism like the CDM.

Dramatic Policy Shift

Earlier this month, the Indian environment minister made another positive announcement regarding India’s intentions to have voluntary and non-binding emission reduction targets. The minister announced that a bill prescribing carbon emission limits for the top five polluting industries could be introduced in the Parliament during the winter session starting November 22.

The bill would empower the Parliament to stop flow of funding for mitigation measures if they are economically unsound or put extra burden on the common people. In this way the Indian government would be able to secure the economic interests while reducing its carbon output.

The dramatic change in India’s stance came after US-China climate negotiations resulted in China agreeing in principle to voluntary emission reductions, improving energy efficiency and expansion of renewable energy infrastructure. China was involved in bilateral talks with the United States for a year and with the Obama administration taking charge the negotiations got to the fast track. Deals on technology exchange pertaining to green buildings and improving energy efficiency were signed during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to China.

With China break away from the traditional negotiating stance of the developing countries weakness in the developing countries’ camp became more evident. The issue was raised in the Indian Parliament where the environment minister assured the House he personally meet his counterparts in China, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico to renew the negotiations stance.

Subsequently, following his meet with China’s representative although the minister reassured that the Chinese government stood firm on the previously stated position but the minister also said that India would follow China’s working model to reduce its carbon footprint. The meeting was followed by a slew of mitigation measures and assurances of voluntary emission targets.

The new positions on international scrutiny of mitigation measures will not only improve India’s credibility but also help it get additional funding for new clean energy projects and help developed countries offset their own carbon emissions.

Pressure Tactics?

The developing countries have announced a number of mitigation measures which they were opposed to in the past. Many experts see them as attempts to put pressure on developed countries, specifically the United States, to make them agree to bold emission reduction targets and increased financial and support to developing & poor countries.

The Indian government released a report which stated the carbon offsetting value of the countries forests. The government also stated that it intends to increase forest cover and launch aggressive conservation plans in order to market them as mitigation resource to attract funds.

Under the National Solar Mission, the Indian government aims at solar capacity of 20 gigawatts by the year 2030. This is a highly ambitious and seemingly unrealistic goal given that no details of funding have been provided in the plan.

These measures by China and India could put pressure on the US Congress as it considers the climate change bill.

In the past the developed countries have accused the developing countries of dragging feet over issue of reducing their carbon emissions but now that they have announced intentions to adopt economically sensitive voluntary emission reduction targets the spotlight has returned to the developed countries.

The Indian environment minister once challenged the US government to adopt bold emissions reduction targets and see India respond in kind but its the developing countries which have taken the higher ground and now all eyes are on the US to come up with appropriate emission targets and a deal on technological and financial support to the developing countries.

Image 1: COP15 website; Image 2: Matthew McDermott

The views presented in the above article are author’s personal views and do not represent those of TERI/TERI University where the author is currently pursuing a Master’s degree.