\’Indian can meet carbon cut targets by 2020\’

NEW DELHI - The Indian industry can reduce carbon emissions by 20 to 25 percent by 2020 with use of technology but reducing emission post-2020 will be a challenge, a study released here Tuesday said.

The study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) also emphasised that for future climate change negotiations, India should stick to the demand for an equal burden sharing agreement.

The study \’Challenge of the New Balance\’ also highlights that resources like water, land and minerals for industrial sector will be a major problem in coming days.

\”Most of (the) Indian industry is already efficient in terms of its use of energy and emissions but in all these sectors, technology options for emission reduction stagnate after 2020,\” the study said.

\”There is no way to reduce emissions without impacting growth once we cross the current emissions-efficiency technology threshold,\” it added.

The year-long study assessed six of the most energy and emission intensive sectors - power, steel, aluminium, cement, fertilizer and pulp and paper-that contribute about 60 percent of current carbon emissions in the country.

\”There is a perception that India\’s rising greenhouse gas emissions are due to an inefficient industry. The study tells us this is not true,\” said Chandra Bhushan, the study\’s author.

\”We have used data sourced from industry to see how the six sectors perform, what are the technology options to reduce energy and emissions, and the growth trajectories - we have found that many sectors are actually performing at global best levels,\” he added.

The study concluded that in the \’business as usual\’ scenario, industry, at its own cost, will reduce emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.

\”This study must be understood in terms of its implications for global climate negotiations. India must continue to demand an equitable agreement, as the cost of transition to low carbon economies is high,\” said Sunita Narain, director of CSE.

\”The industrialised world must recognize its historical responsibility so that it can pay us to mitigate (the impact of climate change),\” she added.

Narain said under all circumstances today, \”the options for serious emissions reduction are limited in the industrial model we belong to or want to inherit.\”

\”What our study shows is that the world and India has to seriously rethink and rework its economic model for the future,\” she added.

–Indo-Asian News Service

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