JOHANNESBURG: India has failed to meet its commitments towards tackling climate change mainly due to bureaucratic hurdles, while China, the world's biggest polluter, has a better record, an expert said here.
"A lot of the initiatives that the Indian government has taken look great on paper, but in reality there has not been an improvement in the market, which is the difference between India and China," said Dilip Limaye of the Energy Services Company (ESCO) while presenting the paper at the inaugural International ESCO Finance conference.
Based in the US, India-born Limaye singled out the South Asian country's temperament in implementing strategy as the reason for this situation.
"The capacity to implement from the private sector, which outdoes China anytime, is there, but the bureaucracy from government and the regulation is still not enough."
On the contrary, China has fared much better than India in its efforts to implement alternative energies to deal with global warming.
"China is the biggest polluter in the world; more even than the US, but at least they are making an effort. When they set five-year term targets, they meet them," he said.
However, in India, Limaye said that, "The strategy is there, the plans are there, the funding is there, but the problem is that they are not deploying the funds."
"In India we've created something called the Clean Energy Fund, based on a tax of Rs 50 per tonne of coal. They are collecting three to four thousand crore per year. They are sitting on six to eight thousand crore right now, but they have not deployed it," he added.
Limaye, who helped write India's Energy Conservation Act in 2001 and started India's first ESCO company in 1995, proposed the development of what he calls a 'Super ESCO,' to speed up implementation of clean energy programmes.
"My 'Super ESCO' proposal is that governments set up a company, not an agency, like CII is, with the primary responsibility of setting up projects that could bring about economies of scale for the many small entrepreneurs in this sector."
"India has set up such a 'Super ESCO' called Energy Efficiency Services Limited. Although it is not working yet, the base is there. They have just appointed a new CEO, who I have great hopes for," he added.
