Thaindian News

By Sanjay Kumar

New Delhi, Nov.25 (ANI): Information obtained under the Right To Information Act shows that the government put public interest at stake and risked the future of over a billion people in climate change negotiations.

There are now indications of repeat performance during forthcoming climate talks at Cancun, Mexico, which are to commence later this month.

India’s position on climate change can be summarized in the pledge that is often repeated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh — no matter what, India will not compromise its economic growth for emission reductions. We will make efforts to reduce emissions voluntarily but will never take mandatory cuts in a binding international agreement.

Such statements are made without acknowledging that this policy comes with inherent risks. If India’s emissions continue to multiply three to four fold over next two decades, as projected, it will add additional greenhouse gases to the atmosphere that is already saturated beyond the safe limit, threatening large populations with climate impacts.

More importantly, a business-as-usual emission growth policy leaves India with no leverage and moral right to get other major emitting nations like China and United States to reduce their emissions, thereby allowing emissions to multiply as climate negotiations remain locked in stalemate as witnessed during COP15 Copenhagen and previous negotiations.

Although domestically India has launched a National Action Plan on Climate Change which contains eight missions covering climate mitigation and adaptation, it makes no time bound commitment to reduce emissions and sets no targets. While a step in the right direction, but in view of the emergency action required by the worsening state of climate the plan remains grossly inadequate.

The decision of Indian policymakers to choose a pathway of continued emission growth is akin to putting economic interest above climate mitigation. Now compelling evidence has surfaced in the form of Right to Information replies received by a climate group showing that this is indeed the case.

The RTI filings, 125 in number - many of which have been made public over the past few months, raise several questions over government claims that it is seriously addressing mitigation of climate change.

Thirteen RTI applications filed with government show that the government is unconcerned with what international science says about climate change. No process exists within the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to identify and prioritize information on accumulating scientific knowledge internationally on climate change to brief the heads of the two institutions that play the most significant role in determining India’s climate policy.

Ramesh and Dr. Singh appear to have been kept in the dark regarding developments such as, comprehensive scientific assessments on the state of our climate; notable scientific literature on related topics and trends within.

There have been several comprehensive scientific analyses such as the Copenhagen Diagnosis published in late 2009 and UNEP’s Climate Change Compendium published in Oct 2009 that reveal a startling trend — observed changes in the present climate and new predictions of future effects go far beyond IPCC’s worst-case projections. Yet none of these would have reached the tables of policymakers in India who remain blind to international developments in climate science.

Although Ministry of Environment last year constituted the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA), a body of 220 Indian scientists to make scientific assessments of climate change domestically, yet it continues to ignore international science.