India announced a long-term plan to reduce the rate of increase of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Key points of the plan include reducing emissions intensity 33-35% from 2005 levels and producing 40% of electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. The plan aims to put India on a path of slower emissions growth while allowing its economy to continue developing and lifting people out of poverty. Some praised India's commitment to renewable energy, while others said the refusal to reduce absolute emissions was not ambitious enough.
3. India Announces Plan to LowerRate of Greenhouse Gas
Emissions
By ELLEN BARRY and CORAL DAVENPORTOCT. 1, 2015
NEW DELHI — Under growing pressure to join in an international accord to battle climate
change, India on Thursday announced its long-term plan to reduce its rate of planet-warming
greenhouse gaspollutionandtoaggressivelyrampupitsproductionof solar power, hydropower
and wind energy.
India, the world’s third-largest carbon polluter, was the last major country to issue its plan
before a major summit meeting in Paris in December aimedatforginga sweeping new accord
that wouldforthe first time commit every country on earth to enacting new policies to cut fossil
fuel emissions.
At the heartof the Parisdeal will be the plans put forth by each government detailing how it will
help its economy make a transition to low-carbon energy sources.
For years,Indiahas been viewed as an intransigent outlier in global climate-change talks. Indian
leadershave long argued that their priority was lifting a vast population out of poverty, and that
this could not be done swiftly without the rapid expansion of coal-fired power, the largest
contributor to greenhouse gas pollution.
They also maintain that rich countries like the United States bear moral responsibility for global
warming and should not deny poor countries the chance to build their economies.
Under the plan,Indiadoesnotcommitto an absolute reductionincarbonemissionslevels, unlike
othermajor pollutingeconomies,includingthose of the UnitedStates,China, the European Union
and Brazil. India’s emissions would continue to rise, but at a slower pace than business as usual.
Still, some environmentaladvocatespraisedthe plan’scommitmenttorenewableenergyand said
that, if enacted, it could put India on track to reduced carbon emissions in the long run.
“Thisis a reallysignificantstepforIndia,”saidAnjali Jaiswal, director of the India program for the
Natural ResourcesDefenseCouncil,anadvocacy group in New York. “It puts renewable energy at
the centerof the planand positionsIndiaforfurtherreductionsin emissions going forward. It is a
shift from what we’ve seen.”
Other analysts were critical, saying that by resisting an absolute decrease in carbon emissions,
policy makers in New Delhi were swimming against a global current.
“This is a very conservative approach,” said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for
Governance & Sustainable Development, a research center with offices in Washington and
Geneva.
At the core of India’sproposal isa commitmenttoreduce the intensity of its fossil fuel emissions
33 percent to 35 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, while producing 40 percent of its electricity
from non-fossil-fuel sources such as wind, solar power, hydropower and nuclear energy by the
same year.
Under the terms of the plan, India’s economy would grow roughly sevenfold by 2030, compared
with 2005 levels, while its carbon emissions would triple. Yet if India took no action, emissions
would also grow sevenfold.
Significantly,the pledge toreduce the pollution rate is not conditional on financial contributions
fromwealthiercountries,amove thatclimate policy activistspraisedasa majorstepforwardfrom
India’s earlier positions.
However,inrapidlyexpandingthe use of renewable and other zero-carbon forms of technology,
the Indiansdodemandthe “transferof technology” from other countries, as well as aid from the
Green Climate Fund, an entity established by the United Nations to solicit donations from
wealthy countries to help poor countries adapt their economies to lower-carbon technologies.
4. Earlierinthe week,Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and President Obama discussed their
climate change plansat a bilateral meeting in New York. Behind the scenes, people familiar with
theirtalkssay,the two leadersmaybe movingtowardmakinga jointannouncementinvolving the
exchange of United States-developed low-carbon technology.
Before meeting with Mr. Obama, Mr. Modi toured companies in Silicon Valley.
Mr. Modi is expected to make a formal announcement of the plan in New Delhi on Friday, in
an event timed to coincide with the celebration of the birthday of Mohandas K. Gandhi, India’s
founding father. But the Indian government posted its 38-page plan to a public United Nations
portal on Thursday evening. It includes poetic references to yoga and directly cites Gandhi.
“Much before the climate change debate began, Mahatma Gandhi, regarded as the father of our
nation,hadsaidthat we shouldact as ‘trustees’anduse natural resourceswisely as it is our moral
responsibility to ensure that we bequeath to the future generations a healthy planet,” it reads.
In 2011, before he tookoffice,Mr.Modi publishedabookthatpresentedthe moral case foraction
on climate change.He haspositionedhimself as a progressive on the issue. Yet he has also made
plain that his top priority for his nation is economic growth, leading millions of people out of
poverty — even if that means increasing the use of cheap, coal-fired electricity.
The pledges released on Thursday represent a sort of compromise: both strikingly ambitious on
renewable energy and adamant in a refusal to actually diminish emissions.
In an interview this week, India’s environment minister, Prakash Javadekar, illustrated that
tension.
“Poverty reduction is our top priority. Providing power in the next 2,000 days is our priority. We
want faster development. My people have a right to grow,” he said. But he added: “Climate
change is alsoa priority.We have the world’s largest renewable energy sector. We want to clean
our air, our water, our energy, our environment. It’s not because someone else is saying so. We
want that.”
Eventhoughall the major economieshave submittedclimate change plans,experts say the plans’
collective impact will not be enough to stave off the worst impacts of climate change.
An analysis released Monday by researchers at the group Climate Interactive shows that the
collective pledgeswouldreduce the warmingof the planet at century’s end to about 6.3 degrees,
if the national commitments were fully honored, from an expected 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit, if
emissions continued on their present course. That is a long way from meeting their own shared
target, set in 2010, of limiting global warming to about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
That level of warming, while potentially producing dire effects on agriculture, sea level and the
natural world, might at least be tolerable, some experts say.
