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Journalism of Courage
In a significant move towards evolving a consensus on a future climate change framework, France has came out in support of India’s stand that per capita emissions should be the yardstick to decide a country’s share of responsibilities in mitigating the effects of global climate change.
India has been consistently arguing that a country’s carbon emissions should not be seen in absolute terms but as per capita contribution. With a share of 4.6 per cent to global CO2 emissions, India is the fourth biggest carbon emitter, but its per capita emissions at 1.2 tonne per year is nearly 20 times less than that of the US.
Accordingly, India’s argument has been that reduction targets should apply only to countries having high per capita emissions. France’s support shows a growing acceptance of this idea even among the developed countries, nearly all of which have high per capita emissions.
In the joint declaration, the two countries said they would work together “actively and constructively within the framework of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol” to evolve a consensus on the principle of per capita emissions as the standard yardstick.
Pledging to complement each other’s efforts in fighting global climate change, India and France also agreed to set up a joint working group on environment to identify cooperative action in a number of areas related to clean and green technologies.
The work group will explore the options on joint projects in the areas of energy efficiency and energy-saving, conservation and sustainable management of forests, bio-diversity, and civilian nuclear cooperation.
