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India Announces Plan to Slow Emissions by Jim Yardley


With international talks on climate change starting next week in Copenhagen, India staked out its early position on Thursday by announcing that it would slow the growth of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, while also leaving open the possibility of taking bolder steps if an “equitable” deal can be reached during the negotiations.

The Indian initiative, presented in Parliament by the country’s top environmental official, means that India has now joined the United States, China, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa in making a domestic emissions pledge before the Copenhagen talks. Like China, its approach is focused on improving energy efficiency rather than accepting mandatory limits on emissions.

India is a critical player in the climate change talks, if one in a complicated position. With 1.2 billion people, it is the world’s second most populous country, having both high rates of poverty and high rates of economic growth. Its population means it has a much lower per-capita emissions rate than that of the industrialized world, yet it has high levels of total emissions. It ranks fifth globally in overall emissions and is projected to rank higher as its economy grows.

Indian leaders have refused to sign any pact that would inhibit the country’s growth, but India is considered especially vulnerable to the problems attributed to global warming, like alterations in the annual monsoon season and rising sea levels. These problems are among the reasons that Indian officials, once regarded as obstructionist on the climate change issue, have sought to reposition the country as a constructive participant in the talks.

“India must show leadership to its own people,” Jairam Ramesh, the environment minister, told Parliament on Thursday. “We must show action.”

Under the plan, India would slow the growth of emissions by reducing its levels of so-called carbon intensity — roughly the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output — by 20 to 25 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. In the past, India has resisted setting such targets as a potential constraint on growth. Yet even with the target, total emissions would continue to rise, though the rate of growth would slow.

“We are prepared to do even more,” Mr. Ramesh said, if a fair deal can be reached in Copenhagen. “This is our baseline. We will do this on our own.”

Last week, President Obama announced that the United States, the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China, would set a provisional target to cut its total greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 83 percent by 2050. The next day, the Chinese government announced a target to slow emissions by reducing carbon intensity levels by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels.

Neither the Chinese nor the American plan satisfied many critics, who want both countries to commit to far bolder steps. Navroz K. Dubash, a climate change specialist in New Delhi, said the American pledge was actually a lesser commitment than it would have been obligated to meet under the Kyoto Protocol, which the United States refused to ratify. Mr. Dubash said that India had become a more constructive participant in climate change negotiations, but that the flurry of pre-Copenhagen announcements did not represent a breakthrough response to the crisis.

“The game seems to be that all countries pick a politically safe number,” said Mr. Dubash, an analyst with the Center for Policy Research. “India is now joining that game. And the game started with the United States.”

As yet, it is unclear how to assess the significance of the Indian target. Mr. Ramesh told Parliament that the country’s carbon intensity level had already dropped by 17.6 percent from 1990 to 2005 — even as total emissions rose rapidly.

Michael A. Levi, an energy and environment expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, questioned the value of developing countries’ using carbon intensity targets as a measurement for slowing emissions growth.

In India’s case, Mr. Levi said, the target announced Thursday was less ambitious than policies the country had previously announced. Last summer, India announced that it would introduce domestic legislation to institute fuel efficiency standards, rapidly expand the use of solar power and so-called clean coal technology, introduce green building codes and expand forest cover.

“The offer is actually much smaller than almost every projection of what their current policies will accomplish, whether by Western or Indian economists,” Mr. Levi said by e-mail.

Politically, the climate change negotiations are a touchy subject in India. Many conservatives and leftists continue to argue that India should not be obligated to take any action, because developed countries are responsible for the bulk of the emissions currently in the atmosphere. Mr. Ramesh has come under harsh criticism for saying that India would be willing to show flexibility in negotiations. Some critics accused him of selling out Indian interests to the United States.

But in his speech, Mr. Ramesh reiterated what he described as India’s nonnegotiable positions: It would not agree to any legally binding emissions reductions and would not sign any agreement that stipulated a peak year for Indian emissions.

India is seeking financial and technical assistance from the West. If such assistance is forthcoming, he said, India could be willing to submit to international oversight on any emissions mitigation financed by that aid.

John M. Broder contributed reporting from Washington.