New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS) The Planning Commission is setting up an expert group to recommend how India can move towards a low carbon economy. The announcement is expected Tuesday, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here Monday.
To be led jointly by eminent economist Kirit Parikh and former UN under secretary general Nitin Desai, the group will prepare a roadmap by which India can reduce its carbon dioxide emissions without affecting the growth of the economy.

Ramesh told IANS on the sidelines of a press conference that the group may recommend steps that can be activated by the middle of the 12th Five Year Plan period, 2012-17.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas whose emissions are leading to climate change, that in turn is already affecting farm out put, making droughts, floods and storms more frequent and more severe and raising the sea level. India is one of the worst affected countries.

While India’s per capita greenhouse gas emission is just over a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, five percent of that in the US, in total India is the world’s fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China, the US and Russia.