Tata car gives Pachauri nightmares

As the automotive industry and consumers wait for what has come to be called the Rs 1 lakh car, R K Pachauri, the chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says it is giving him nightmares.

The car, which Tata Motors is slated to roll out in September next year, will bring the entry price level for a car owner down sharply. That will put more cars on the road at a time when the world is running out of time to cut down emissions.

More private vehicles, according to Pachauri, is not the right way forward. On the contrary, it would take the world farther from solutions to climate change. Tata Motors' rivals, most recently Suzuki Motor Corp chairman O Suzuki, have often wondered aloud how the Rs 1 lakh car would fare on the parameters of safety and environment suitability.

Pachauri, who was today felicitated by industry for leading IPCC, which has received this year's peace Nobel, called upon Indian industry to take the lead in moving towards low carbon growth.

He said industry had to be part of the solution as it had the technology to provide low-carbon alternatives. "Public mobility needs to be revolutionised through better public transport and industry alone has the solution for this," he said, and suggested a taskforce to promote public transport.

He said finances and expertise were available on the net from across the world for any city which needed it and neither should keep cities away from getting the best solutions in public transport.

Pachauri called upon Confederation of Indian Industries, which organised the felicitation, to join hands with the one he heads, TERI, to start a series of events to explore how India can move towards a low-carbon regime.