"India has also strongly promoted the CDM under the Kyoto Protocol and has the world's largest number of CDM projects."

New Delhi Feb. 28 In the backdrop of several developed countries' demands that high growth countries like India and China should also take mandatory green house gas (GHG) emission reduction targets, the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, today proposed the formation of an expert committee that would study the impact of climate change on India and identify measures that the country has to take in future.

The Finance Minister, however, made it clear that, "India is not a significant contributor to GHG emissions, nor will it be so in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, in line with the principle of `common but differentiated responsibility', India has taken important steps to mitigate GHG emissions and adapt to climate change impact."

Mandatory Targets

"This is the first time that the Finance Minister has talked about climate change. It is a good, first step," said Mr Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director, Maruti Udyog, said. "The Finance Minister is indicating that the only manner in which India would reduce GHGs is through clean development mechanism (CDM). We would not take mandatory targets for reducing GHG emissions. Moreover, the committee could work towards identifying sectors that are not a part of CDM," Mr Sudipta Das, Partner, Ernst and Young, said.

"Appointment of expert committee to assess the impacts of climate change is a step in the right direction while the scope of such an assessment would cover impacts on wealth and livelihoods. It is desirable to cover the impacts on businesses too. Keeping with the spirit of Finance Minister's speech, it is expected that industry also makes independent assessment of impacts of impending climate change on business activities and vice-a-versa," Dr P. Rambabu, Head-Global carbon strategy, CO2e.