India: Climate Change’s Jekyll & Hyde

Posted on 10. Nov, 2009 by Ross in Asia, Climate Change, Government Policy

As Copenhagen approaches, countries are slowly but surely aligning their political commitments to carbon reduction in order to come to an effective and agreeable international agreement to avoid catastrophic climate change.

India, however, seems to still be reading a different script.

The signals emanating from India are constantly confusing and contradictory: just when India looks unmoveable on climate change, New Delhi’s political class start issuing rushed carbon reduction legislation. Then just when India seemed content in joining China in making America the scapegoat, environment minister Jairam Ramesh decided that his place in climate change flip-flopping history was not yet assured and so issued another set of simultaneously contradictory statements this week to add to his reservoir of environmental misdirections.

A report issued from his agency on Monday declared, in contradiction to the bulk of peer-reviewed scientific studies, that there was no conclusive evidence to prove that the Himalayan glaciers were melting due to climate change. Despite acknowledging that the health of the glaciers was very poor, Ramesh supported report author Dr V K Raina in concluding that “None of our glaciers under monitoring are recording abnormal retreat.”

The controversial nature of the report was quickly commented upon by the chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr R K Pachauri, who responded to the release of the report by saying:

I’d like to find out the secret source of this divine intervention… I don’t understand the logic of this… I am puzzled where this magical science has come from… This is something indefensible.

Despite India’s (and Ramesh’s) international posturing, they continue to push forward with domestic policies which will drastically reduce the country’s energy demands. Mandatory efficiencies for key raw materials such as steel, aluminium, fertilisers, textiles and paper will be a primary component of India’s energy conservation plans, and a cap-and-trade scheme promises to further augment the energy savings.

Talking on the front page of the Hindustan Times on Saturday, Ramesh said:

Let us take on aggressive commitments domestically. Let us negotiate from a position of strength because we have a good story to tell the world… We need to have flexibility, negotiate from a position of strength and keep India’s interests paramount.

The last words of that quote underlies the whole of Ramesh’s chaotic approach to climate change diplomacy. International agreements on climate change are almost irrelevant to India. The country is being forced to become more energy efficient in order to continue its economic growth, as the El Nino summer’s energy shortages exposed. Economics are at the heart of India’s campaign to use less energy.

Despite the likelihood of India’s massive population being the most at risk from the effects of climate change, with the biggest number of climate migrants predicted to come from the country’s eastern coasts, India talks predominantly of climate change adaptation rather than carbon reduction: India already sees the fight against climate change as lost, and is concentrating on creating an industrialised society capable of footing the bill for living with the aftermath.

Image of Vijay Chowk in New Delhi by Koshyk @ Flickr