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...

James Hansen, world’s leading climate change expert, says summit talks are so flawed that a deal would be a disaster.  The scientist who convinced the world to take notice of the looming danger of global warming says it would be better for the planet and for future generations if next week’s Copenhagen climate change summit ended in collapse. In an interview with the Guardian, James Hansen, the world’s pre-eminent climate...

Recognises key principle of common and differentiated responsibilities Statement in line with India’s position: Sunita Narain India on Wednesday expressed satisfaction with the joint Indo-U.S. statement, particularly the portion on climate change, which “represents an increased degree of congruence” in the way the two countries approach the challenge. According to an official spokesperson, the Prime Minister’s visit to the U.S. also laid the foundation for a significant and focussed collaborative effort both on...

With the United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen just 13 days away, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has highlighted the need to ensure that the energy needs of developing countries are central to any new climate agreement, after a new report found that almost a quarter of the world’s 6 billion people live without electricity. The majority of the 1.5 billion people who live in the dark are in the...

A simple and strictly local power generation system has proved that rural Indian communities are willing and able to pay for reliable electricity.  Some seven years ago, two young men, chums from their days at boarding school, chatted over the Internet about what they might do for villages in their home state of Bihar. The company they went on to create has begun establishing small power plants driven by gases...