The Indian government led by Prime Minister Singh has had some heated debates in Parliament the last few days ahead of Prime Minister Singh's expected trip to Copenhagen. India is one of the world's biggest producers of carbon dioxide. Earlier this week they pledged to lower carbon emissions by 20-25%, President Barack Obama pledged a few weeks ago only a 17% cut by the United States.
One critic dismissed India's plan as insignificant. It merely justifies the low standard set by the U.S., said Sunita Narain of the New Delhi-based Center for Science and the Environment.
Prime Minister Singh has said that he will not sacrifice his countries future growth and prosperity in order to cut emissions. At the heart of the current debate in the Indian Congress is the technology used to cut emissions. Will the EU transfer the technology to developing countries like India or will they be forced to finance Intellectual Property Rights to the technology which could cost a great deal. Singh initially stated that India was not prepared to pay for any technology to cut emissions and that if the EU is truly interested in cutting down the world's greenhouse gases they should share their technology.
In a statement, the CPI(M) Politburo demanded the Indian government should "categorically clarify what India's negotiating position will be" before the Indian delegation leaves for Copenhagen.
The CPI is extremely upset with the perceived softening of India's climate change policy by environment minister Jairam Ramesh.
These climate change policy ripples being felt across the globe are mainly due to yesterday's press release from the White House. On December 4, 2009 the White House Office of the Press Secretary released a statement on the United Nations upcoming Copenhagen conference.
In the statement the White house said " Following bilateral meetings with the President and since the United States announced an emissions reduction target that reflects the progress being made in Congress towards comprehensive energy legislation, China and India have for the first time set targets to reduce their carbon intensity." After this statement the Indian government announced they do not intend to sign a binding agreement at Copenhagen. How much of this is political maneuvering on both sides is hard to tell. The White House also mentioned a fund of $10 billion in financing a year by 2012 being negotiated by Prime Minister Rudd, Chancellor Merkel, President Sarkozy, and Prime Minister Brown to aid in the support adaptation and mitigation in developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable and least developed countries that could be destabilized(interesting choice of words) by the impacts of climate change.
President Barack Obama then announced he was postponing his previously planned December 9th arrival at Copenhagen to December 18th, 2009. It looks as if President Obama has some selling to do this week.
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