)
India took a leap forward to meet US demands on climate change with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's and US President Barack Obama's joint statement.
The government took the final decision to partially accept US demands on the phase-out of global warming refrigerant gases in India, a step India had refused to take so far and the ministries concerned had advised against.
On the eve of Modi's visit to Washington, US negotiators had pushed the Indian government hard, indicating that the entire package of agreements on the power sector hinged upon India also agreeing to the US' specific demands on climate change. The US had demanded that India agrees to kick-start talks that would lead to the ban of a family of refrigerant gases, called HFCs, which are short-lived but have a strong impact on the atmosphere in the period they last.
India had so far held back from doing so before 2015 for several reasons. The alternatives to HFCs, required for some sectors of the economy, are the proprietary technology of select US-based companies and entail high costs. Then some of the technologies are yet not tested for safety. Third, the US wanted to phase out the greenhouse gases under the Montreal Protocol instead of the UN convention on climate change, where higher costs of transition could be availed. Additionally, it would set a precedent of letting climate change decisions being taken outside the UN climate convention, which India has long objected to.
The US was keen that India agrees right away to kick-starting decisions to deal with the refrigerant gases under the Montreal Protocol, which in diplomatic jargon is referred to as setting up a "contact group" on the issue.
The government officials involved in the negotiations had suggested against such a move at present. "Strategically it made sense to negotiate this as part of the entire package under the UN climate convention for the 2015 global deal," a senior official explained. "But it was decided at the highest levels to do so otherwise, I guess," he added.
Another source told Business Standard the high pressure from the US ensured that the issue was resolved at the highest level in the government, with the Cabinet only approving the agreement between the two countries "in principle", leaving the final call to the prime minister's office.
The final statement that emerged from the meeting of the two heads of government at Washington said the two countries, "recognised the need to use the institutions and expertise of the Montreal Protocol to reduce consumption and production of HFCs, while continuing to report and account for the quantities reduced under the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change)."
It added, "They (India and US) pledged to urgently arrange a meeting of their bilateral task force on HFCs prior to the next meeting of the Montreal Protocol to discuss issues such as safety, cost, and commercial access to new or alternative technologies to replace HFCs."
This language did not have India committing all the way to set up a 'contact group', as the US desired, but it did break India away from its existing redlines to move a step closer towards eventual agreement.
"The critical final step could be taken by India nearer to the Montreal Protocol meeting in November. The government would be required to change its existing non-negotiable redlines to accept that the issue can be dealt with outside the UN climate convention," one of the two senior officials Business Standard spoke to explained. The bilateral task force on the refrigerant gases will meet before this November meeting now, as decided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama.
