Paris climate agreement adopted, yields mixed bag for India
Developing economies like India are expected to benefit from the agreement signed at the COP21 climate change summit in Paris, as a part of which clean energy to see major investment
Ministers from the world over created history in Paris on Saturday by agreeing to a comprehensive climate change deal that may not only be ambitious to protect the planet but will also give a boost to clean energy business without compromising on developmental imperatives.
The slogan "No Plan B" is projected on the Eiffel Tower as part of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) in Paris on Friday. Developing countries like India expect enhanced funds from the rich world — which has pledged $100 billion in green funds — for post-2020 period when the deal comes into force. (Reuters)
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The deal will have a lot in store for economies in transition like India with over a trillion dollars in green investment set to be handed out in the next decade or so, enabling the adoption of greener technologies — an endgame that the agreement sets out to achieve.
Yet to be adopted, the global pact targets zero emissions by the end of this century and introduced carbon trading that can help Indian industry sell green credits abroad.
“India can be one the biggest beneficiaries as it has capability and mechanism to adapt investment for clean energy,” said Damandeep Singh, director of Carbon Disclosure Report, India.
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India has already declared a target of setting 175 Gigawatts capacity of renewable by 2020 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hoped the capacity can be doubled by 2030.
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India has already declared a target of setting 175 Gigawatts capacity of renewable by 2020 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hoped the capacity can be doubled by 2030.
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“Estimates by industry leaders show that trillions of dollars will be available for investment from companies in Europe and America. You just need the right policies,” Singh said.
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But, to get that the government may have to push for more predictable environment-friendly policies.
The five year review of climate action plans called INDCs will also help India to ramp up its green energy goals.
Developing countries like India also expect enhanced funds from the rich world — which has pledged $100 billion in green funds — for post-2020 period when the deal comes into force.
For India, continuation of the existing firewall between the rich and the developing world in all elements of Paris agreement is an achievement and so is mention of sustainable lifestyle and climate justice. Paris is half battle won as a lot will be decided in subsequent climate conferences before 2020 when the agreement will come into force. Most experts termed the deal as a mixed bag for India.
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.
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