2009-10-22

China and India’s joint plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions provides the developing world with an alternative to the global climate treaty that wealthier nations want them to sign in Copenhagen this year, analysts said.

Asia’s two biggest polluters from burning carbon-based fuels said they will collaborate on renewable power and energy- efficiency projects, in a memorandum of understanding yesterday in New Delhi. They rejected limits on their emissions proposed by industrialized nations under an international climate accord.

“They’re trying to gain leverage going into Copenhagen and show the world they have other options if the global talks break down,” said Olav Roenningen, senior analyst at carbon-markets advisory firm Markedskraft in Arendal, Norway.

The New Delhi accord shows how support may be eroding for a treaty that United Nations negotiators aim to conclude in Copenhagen in December. Developing nations led by China and India are devising similar regional agreements, citing a failure by wealthier countries including the U.S. to agree to reduce emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and share clean-energy technology with poorer countries.

Speculation that countries won’t produce a treaty has built this month after Yvo De Boer, the top UN climate official, said on Oct. 13 that the Copenhagen summit may be “half-baked” unless rich nations agree to do more to trim gas emissions.

“When India and China take the lead, the rest usually follow,” said Michael Mason, director of the conservation program at Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics. Still, their new accord may be seen “as a ploy to say we’re going to go ahead and start dealing bilaterally if we can’t come to a multilateral agreement.”

More Regional Deals

The accord was signed by Xie Zhenhua, vice minister at China’s National Development and Reform Commission, and Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh in the Indian capital.

“We may see even more regional deals like this during the next month before the UN climate talks start,” Roenningen said.

India and neighboring countries may sign a regional environment treaty next year, Ramesh said in a separate speech at a meeting of officials from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, known as Saarc.

“A regional environment treaty will be finalized, to be signed at the next Saarc summit at Thimpu in April 2010,” Ramesh said on Oct. 20. Thimpu is the capital of Bhutan.

Saarc includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan. China is not a member.

Ministers from more than 30 African nations agreed in May that measures to adapt to the effects of climate change on agriculture, water supply, forests and human health should be included in national and regional development plans.

Chinese Pledge

Chinese President Hu Jintao said last month his country will cut emissions in proportion to economic growth, without outlining specific goals or whether he would included it in a global agreement.

China and India together account for about one-fourth of the emissions blamed for global warming that scientists say leads to rising sea levels, as well as disruptive weather patterns that cause more intense storms and droughts.

The United Nations is aiming for a climate agreement to replace or extend the Kyoto Protocol, expiring in 2012. After climate talks in Bangkok this month, countries have another week in Barcelona in November before the Copenhagen summit.

“India and China are most vulnerable to climate change,” Xie said yesterday. “Both countries are in the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization. I am confident China and India will make a positive contribution to Copenhagen.”

Examining India

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol provisions are the most appropriate framework for addressing climate change, according to the copy of the agreement given to reporters in New Delhi.

India will consider outside measurement and verification of its efforts to tackle climate change if they were supported by international finance and the transfer of technology from developed nations, Ramesh said in a statement on Oct. 20.

“There is virtually no difference in Indian and Chinese negotiating positions,” Ramesh said.

Ramesh suggested earlier this month that only a limited agreement would emerge in Copenhagen and that the conference should focus on rich countries financing and aiding poor nations affected by climate change.

Trust between rich and developing nations had “broken down” at recent UN negotiations in Bangkok, he said.

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