India opposes protectionism under green label: Saran

India objected to attempts of being clubbed along with "major emitters" of green house gases and warned the developed world against sneaking in "protectionism under green label" garb.

The attempt to club India together with so-called major emitters is misleading and unfair, Shyam Saran, the prime minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change, said.

"We do not believe that we are major emitters," he said while while responding to questions from the audience at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a prestigious Washington-based think-tank here.

"The latest data shows that while US and China are each responsible for about 20 per cent of global CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, India, with its billion plus population, generates only four per cent of such emissions, he said while speaking on the topic, "India's Climate Change Initiatives: Strategies for a Greener Future."

He said that as against a per capita CO2 emission of 20 tonnes for the US, India accounts for only 1.8 tonnes per capita," he said.

Earlier, addressing a meeting of US corporate leaders organised by the US India Business Council (USIBC) here, Saran sought a partnership with the US in renewable energy to meet the growing challenge of climate change.

With the Obama Administration focusing on clean and renewable energy to jump-start its recession-hit economy, an Indo-US partnership between them, after the civilian nuclear deal, is essential to jointly meet the challenges of climate change, Saran said.

Welcoming president Barack Obama's Renewable Energy Initiative, he said: "The first component of our strategy for the future, for both Indian and US business is a renewable energy partnership covering different technological pathways and focusing on technology and product development."

He said that the world is on the cusp of an energy revolution and that it was becoming apparent that current trends of growth of the global economy, in particular the growth of India and China, cannot be sustained by the accelerated depletion of fossil fuels.

"The challenge before us now lies in translating these opportunities into practical collaborative partnerships on a scale and of a quality that befits the strategic partnership between our two countries," he said.

Saran also cautioned the developed world, the US and European countries in particular, to avoid any attempt to sneak in "protectionism under green label" as this would hurt their global efforts to successfully meet the challenges posed by climate change.

"We should not open doors for protectionism under green label. That is something, which would be a very negative development," he said. 

Saran is in the US to have a series of high-level meeting with top officials of Obama Administration on issues related to climate change and clean energy, which has been a major focus areas for the new US government.

"Bringing in trade competitive or industrial competitive issues would only complicate the effort that we are trying to make to come up with a global regime, which is as I mentioned (needs to be) fair and equitable," Saran said cautioning the developed world from indulging in such a endeavour.

"Most developing countries will argue that we are already starting with a very unleveled playing field," Saran said.

"If you look at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), which remains the only consensus legal instrument to deal with the issue of climate change, action on climate change by all countries of the world is not conditional upon any trade or investment related matters," Saran said in reply to a question on this issue.

"So this has been very deliberately kept out of the action that is required with respect to climate change. What the UNFCC had envisaged and what we developing countries feel is that what you need is a global collaborative effort to address the issue of climate change and not something which gets linked up with issue of level playing field," Saran said.

Saran also hoped that the 15th COP in Copenhagen will deliver a fair and equitable, and also an ambitious outcome based on the UNFCCC and the Bali Action Plan.

"India is prepared to work together with the US towards this objective. This will provide a global environment for not only the successful implementation of our Action Plan but to enable its significant scaling up," he said.

"India's main interest in the multilateral negotiations leading up to the 15th Conference of Parties in Copenhagen is to ensure the emergence of a global regime, under the UNFCCC, which would be development-oriented and supportive of our own ambitious national efforts on Climate Change, both in Mitigation and in Adaptation," Saran said.