CANCUN: What will be the outcome of Cancun? The details are still being thrashed out but one thing is certain — when the two-week conference ends, India will have further diluted its stance on climate change negotiations.
The government might justify it as a part of its larger geopolitical need or a pragmatic review of its position or the need to not stand alone, but India is bound to come out by taking another step towards diluting the existing principles of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Bali Action Plan that it fought hard for two decades.
As a developing country negotiator said, "In Bali, India accepted it would carry out mitigation actions. In Copenhagen, it accepted international scrutiny and in Cancun, we have accepted the possibility of legally binding targets. One has to see if by Durban next year, India also accepts absolute emission cuts."
The questions that one would need to ask when the post-summit assessment begins are two-fold. How will these changes in the international climate change stance impact India's economic growth and what did India gain in return for these regressions?
Someone who is a student of international relations might see the climate change game changing in the light of US support for India's candidature to the UN Security Council but the critics of the flexibility that has PM Manmohan Singh's blessings would want to know if the mantra may cost the Indian economy and its poor too much by the time the new global climate deal is concluded.
Till 2009, the government had claimed that emission-reduction targets could wipe out considerable economic growth. At the penultimate day of the Cancun talks, India seemed poised to slip into such targets sooner than one had thought a couple of years ago.
It began by avoiding any kind of mitigation actions, pointing out that it was not the culprit in the first place. This was in the early 90s. It played a difficult balance of closing the bilateral gap with the US while it stuck to a stringent multilateral line at the climate forum.
By the time UPA was in place, the mandate had shifted. The policy shift towards US and the competitive neighbourhood made India dance a tricky step towards the high table, slowly forsaking its role as the leader of the G77 and quickly taking its seat at forums like the G20 and the Major Economies Forum. The climate shift was a package deal, policy wonks suggested, and that giving up on concerns about international scrutiny and bearing costs of a quicker transition to green energy is well worth the gambit.
The UPA is yet to show the cost sheets of this change in its policy climate.
Read more: India takes step to dilute climate change stand - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-takes-step-to-dilute-climate-change-stand/articleshow/7080060.cms#ixzz17m4rQr1P
The government might justify it as a part of its larger geopolitical need or a pragmatic review of its position or the need to not stand alone, but India is bound to come out by taking another step towards diluting the existing principles of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Bali Action Plan that it fought hard for two decades.
As a developing country negotiator said, "In Bali, India accepted it would carry out mitigation actions. In Copenhagen, it accepted international scrutiny and in Cancun, we have accepted the possibility of legally binding targets. One has to see if by Durban next year, India also accepts absolute emission cuts."
The questions that one would need to ask when the post-summit assessment begins are two-fold. How will these changes in the international climate change stance impact India's economic growth and what did India gain in return for these regressions?
Someone who is a student of international relations might see the climate change game changing in the light of US support for India's candidature to the UN Security Council but the critics of the flexibility that has PM Manmohan Singh's blessings would want to know if the mantra may cost the Indian economy and its poor too much by the time the new global climate deal is concluded.
Till 2009, the government had claimed that emission-reduction targets could wipe out considerable economic growth. At the penultimate day of the Cancun talks, India seemed poised to slip into such targets sooner than one had thought a couple of years ago.
It began by avoiding any kind of mitigation actions, pointing out that it was not the culprit in the first place. This was in the early 90s. It played a difficult balance of closing the bilateral gap with the US while it stuck to a stringent multilateral line at the climate forum.
By the time UPA was in place, the mandate had shifted. The policy shift towards US and the competitive neighbourhood made India dance a tricky step towards the high table, slowly forsaking its role as the leader of the G77 and quickly taking its seat at forums like the G20 and the Major Economies Forum. The climate shift was a package deal, policy wonks suggested, and that giving up on concerns about international scrutiny and bearing costs of a quicker transition to green energy is well worth the gambit.
The UPA is yet to show the cost sheets of this change in its policy climate.
Read more: India takes step to dilute climate change stand - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-takes-step-to-dilute-climate-change-stand/articleshow/7080060.cms#ixzz17m4rQr1P
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