Paris climate summit: India wants a comprehensive deal

India has taken a tough stand before the Paris climate summit. Environment secretary Ashok Lavasa explains the rationale behind it in a conversation with Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Nov 19, 2015, 18:48:06 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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India has taken a tough stand before the Paris climate summit. Environment secretary Ashok Lavasa explains the rationale behind it in a conversation with Chetan Chauhan.

India has taken a tough stand before the Paris climate summit. Environment secretary Ashok Lavasa explains the rationale behind it. (HT file photo)

What is India looking at in the Paris deal?

India is looking at an agreement which reflects concerns of all and is comprehensive. The agreement should be under the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

What does balance mean for India?

Balance means something which does not represent the interests of only a few.

Do you think there is convergence in the definition of differentiation?

Differentiation has been discussed and is well defined under common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR)… It is the cumulative result of action of certain (read rich) countries that climate change has happened. So, different countries have different responsibilities.

After CDM, there are talks on carbon pricing. What is India’s stand?

The CDM itself has its share of difficulties and has not been able to take off... India is not averse to any market intervention which incentivised mitigation action on part of different players. If there is an effective instrument that can incentivise mitigation, India will certainly consider such a framework.

In the past, the European Union had proposed aviation tax in the name of carbon pricing.

I think taxation is something different and is not market based. India has opposed to it and our stand on bunker fuel and aviation is well known.

Transparency and review mechanism are major issues. How should the review be done?

Point and the principle of differentiation are relevant for transparency and review. Even now, there are two different reporting mechanisms but the existing mechanism has not been given a fair trial. Less than 15 countries have reported as per the existing mechanism. We feel the existing mechanism that suitably represents differentiation between annex and non-annex countries should continue and later, if the system needs further change, it can be discussed. As of now, we should give International Assessment and Review (IAR) mechanism enough time to establish and we think it would be immature to consider any new mechanism.

What is India’s stand on the five-year review system?

There should be stocktaking and transparency. We are fine with it. The INDCs are nationally determined and the countries have a choice to review them at whatever point they feel. The period for India’s INDCs is 10 years. We look at a situation; we should not be asked to review them before 10 years.

India is insisting on public finance for US $100 billion. Why?

If resources are required for adaptation, people will not provide money. Second thing is that at the UN convention, the expression used was new and predictable finance. When you talk of predictability, it is not possible to predict private finance. That does not mean private investment is not needed. It is more than welcome. But it will certainly supplement public finance. If there is a clear definition of climate finance and money is provided for climate action, it is an arrangement which will take prospective effect.

Can bilateral be part of the global 100 billion fund which has been promised?

If there is an understanding that it is climate finance, it can be part of international set-up. Whether it can be part of the global climate finance, we personally feel it should not be. The reason is that lending organisations work on their own principles.

What is India’s view on peaking year and decarbonisation?

We don’t understand what decarbonisation means. We move in a direction of low carbon path is fine. To announce any peaking year may not be right or possible at this point for a simple reason we have given our prediction for 2030 by when we are saying there will be so much reduction. Most of these actions on mitigation will be driven by new technologies that are not possible to predict now. It will be too hasty for us to declare peaking year.

The cost of clean technology is high. How will Paris deal with IPR?

Our position is that there has to be collaborative effort on research and development. We have also suggested that the cost of technology transfer, especially the intellectual property rights, should come from the Green Climate Fund so that the transfer becomes affordable and it does not hurt poor nations.

What agreement do you expect in Paris?

We are hoping for a balanced agreement and we are working towards it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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