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Progress on climate change
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| The Hindu , Thursday, March 22, 2007 |
| Correspondent
: Staff Reporter |
| The meeting of environment ministers of G8 countries at Potsdam, Germany last week attempted to arrive at a consensus on efforts to slow down climate change, in a partnership with the developing world. The critical phase of the Kyoto protocol from 2008 to 2012 involves reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by about five per cent from 1990 levels. This depends greatly on bringing around the United States, the biggest emitter of GHGs, to accept the protocol; the European Union is keen to effect massive cuts by 2020, and individual countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany want to improve upon their national commitments. The U.S. delegate spoke of emission reduction as a key item on the agenda of President George W. Bush. That is welcome but the U.S. must acknowledge that domestic actions on climate change lack the persuasive force of an international framework to which developing countries could commit themselves. Developing countries with strong growth rates are already emitting significant levels of GHGs. A good deal of work is needed to shift these economies to a low-carbon, energy-efficient path. The G8 initiative on climate change outlined in Gleneagles in 2005 and to be developed later this year under Germany's presidency, can help China, India, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa collaborate with the industrialised nations in evolving and using clean development technologies early.
The key areas of concern are energy efficiency, renewable energy production, development of clean fuel and carbon capture technologies. Post-Gleneagles, the U.K. and India have jointly attempted to identify the barriers to transfer of low carbon technologies. The findings are revealing. While India has skills in engineering, materials science, and control electronics, it is unable to harness these to manufacture energy-efficient light emitting diodes. The national approach to technology transfer under the Clean Development Mechanism needs review; the U.K.-India study found only 7.3 per cent of CDM projects in India mentioning technology transfer in initial project documentation compared to 55.1 per cent in China. While a National Clean Development Mechanism Authority has indeed been formed and many projects approved to raise efficiency and renewable energy production, a higher level of coordination among governments, research institutions, and private industry can achieve more. The absorptive capacity and production base for such technologies must also be strengthened.
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The Hindu, Thursday, March 22, 2007 |
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