Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has instructed Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh and the PM's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran to sit together and formulate a "joint statement" on India's approach to the Copenhagen Climate Summit scheduled for December 7 to 18.
Alarmed by the confusion created by the public expression of divergent opinions by his key advisors on climate change, the prime minister summoned Saran and Ramesh and asked them to put their heads together and come forward with an agreed text that would reflect both their concerns, a senior government official confirmed.
Both Ramesh and Saran were travelling and did not answer emailed questions sent to them.
Ramesh and Saran have been at odds over the issue of climate change for the past few months. For instance, less than a month ago the environment minister had to face embarrassment when a section of the media published a letter he had written to the prime minister.
The letter suggested that India jettison the Kyoto protocol and delink itself from the G-77 (a block of developing nations) and take on greenhouse gas emission commitments besides permitting the external scrutiny of the measures it takes at its own cost. This could have weakened India’s position in the G-77 and also weakened the G-77 as a whole as India and China have been the leading voices there.
In a rebuttal, which was issued as a press statement, Ramesh insisted that he was quoted out of context and that India's position remained unchanged since 2004, and was anchored in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Bali Action Plan, and that the country would not subject itself to any emission reduction targets or commitments.
Critics, however, did not agree. They said Ramesh was forced to reverse his stance after resistance from the Congress party and political parties like the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Saran, too, had said Ramesh's letter would result in a weakening of the Kyoto protocol (to which India became a signatory in 2002).
Asked if the environment minister had diluted India's stance on climate change, R K Pachuari, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), said: "It is a misperception that the minister diluted the G-77’s principles. The government has to be active and what Ramesh is doing is good, as we have to establish that India is a deal maker and not a deal breaker. So, we have to engage with all players across the spectrum. We are working on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. If we are doing things that are good for us, then we must tell the whole world about it."
Saran, on his part, had upset Ramesh this August by not keeping him in the loop before agreeing to be a signatory to the declaration passed by the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in Italy. Set up by US President Barack Obama early this year, MEF comprises 17 major economies of the world, including India. The Forum aims, among other things, at advancing the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Saran, as India’s lead negotiator on climate change, agreed to a developed-country demand that the developing world (key players are India, China, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico) accept an overall cap of 2°C in the rise in worldwide temperatures. (It is widely accepted that keeping the global temperature rise below 2°C — measured from pre-industrial levels of 1850 — is the threshold that will prevent climate change from becoming catastrophic.)
The statement was widely criticised in India for the fear that it may have given an impression India had "given in" to pressure to make commitments to cap its emissions, a development that could hamper the country's economic growth. Ramesh, who met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later, was categorical that India would not bow to pressure from the West over emission standards. In the normal course of events, it would be the minister's word that carries weight and take precedence, but Saran is understood to be getting his instructions from the prime minister.
