India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), to be unveiled on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday on October 2 for added moral dimension, are keenly awaited across world capitals after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointedly apprised leading western nations, notably the United States, France and Britain, of the third world’s need for access to finance and technology for clean energy to combat climate change without hurting their development. By making developmental priorities non-negotiable, Modi put the onus of the success of the Paris summit (Nov 30-Dec 11, 2015) on the developed world.
Climate change is real. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, melting ice caps, polluted air and water are taking a severe toll on human and animal life. The vagaries of the weather afflict agriculture, putting food security at risk. The warning bells have tolled unheeded for over three decades, but now global warming, ozone depletion, and rising sea levels threaten the very existence of several small island nations from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Of special concern are the Pacific Island countries that helped Indian scientists to track the movement of the iconic Mars mission, a point Modi pointedly made in his speech at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York, where he demanded “climate justice” and urged acceptance of “common but differentiated responsibilities”.
It’s a huge challenge. At least $100 billion annually will be needed to help developing countries cope with and fight climate change; as world finance ministers meet in Lima, Peru (Oct. 7-8), it is uncertain if they can agree on that figure. Yet the man-made crisis is so serious that a further rise in temperatures must be kept below 2 degrees Celsius, or climate change will become irreversible.
Beijing, the greatest greenhouse gas emitter, made a deal with Washington two years ago to peak its emissions by 2030, before beginning reductions. Delhi may announce its peak emission target on October 2, but the government is adamant that combating poverty and giving over 300 million Indians access to energy has priority over reducing its carbon footprint. Modi’s hopes of accessing technology were raised when Microsoft founder Bill Gates joined his meeting with President Hollande.
Claiming that India is already implementing many of the Agenda 2030 goals adopted at the summit as these coincide with the philosophy of BJP ideologue, Deendayal Upadhyaya, who placed the welfare of the last man at the centre of his concerns, Modi urged cooperation in developing renewable sources of energy through innovation, finance and technology. He felt the developed world must make lifestyle changes to arrest environmental degradation through “sustainable consumption”, and was adamant that there would be no compromise with his election promises of housing, power, water and sanitation for all, which are critical for welfare, human dignity, and female empowerment.
Aware that his ambitions may trigger fears that India might be lax in reducing emissions, Modi reminded his audience that Indian culture regards the Earth as Mother, and pointed to his government’s stated ambitions to produce 175 GW of electricity through renewable energy sources in just seven years (by 2022), and undertake a host of energy efficiency measures, including a tax on coal; improving public transportation; using household waste to generate electricity; and a huge afforestation programme, especially along national highways.
Asserting that India’s developmental paradigm includes its development partners in Asia, Africa and the island states from the Pacific to the Atlantic, Modi cannily insisted that the developed world must fulfill its financing commitments for development and climate change, without clubbing the two under the same head! In a swipe at the hitherto unchallenged Patent Raj of the west, he hoped the Technology Facilitation Mechanism would turn technology and innovation into an instrument for global public good, not just private returns.
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