India

India's environment minister says "equity is central to any debate on climate change"

Makes her first public address in Durban at a side event organised by CSE in association with the ministry

Jayanthi Natarajan's statement in Durban on the issue of a new legally binding treaty

"I have come to Durban with an open mind. But I would like to know whether it would be binding only for mitigation and whether it will be the same for Annex-1 and non-Annex1 countries.

The Verbal Battle of Durban

Durban, December 6: The verbal battle of Durban was fought in a plenary at the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre.

It was fought on December 5, 2011, 10:00 am to 11:30 am.

Here is a no-holds barred version of the battle.

We apologise for this rather lengthy posting.

It was, after all, a verbal battle.

If you only want to know how India weighed in, rhetorical mace and all, scroll to the last bit.

Thanks for your patience. Here goes:

Words are becoming phrases: Can climate change discourse be ever untangled?

We are midway through the Durban conference and the search for a ‘transparent’, ‘comprehensive’, ‘balanced’, ‘credible’, ‘flexible’,  ‘accommodating’, ‘fair’,  ‘ambitious’ and ‘binding’ outcome is on. 

AOSIS ultimatum to BASIC

At an informal meeting today between BASIC and AOSIS, the AOSIS group has reportedly given an ultimatum to BASIC, saying that it will not support BASIC unless the major economies come up with some sort of ambitious mitigation targets.

India and China are doing their fair share

November 30, 2011: India and China cannot  be blamed for lack of progress in the global climate change negotiation, a senior negotiator from the Africa Group said today. Speaking to Down to Earth, at the sidelines of the COP17 in Durban, Seyni Alfa Nafo, a negotiator from Mali and the spokesperson of the Africa Group said: “India and China are doing their fair share,” and that developing countries combined efforts to reduce green house gas emissions was more than that of the developed countries.

India's agenda on the table at Durban

November 28, 2011, Durban: On the opening day of CoP17 in Durban, India managed keep the issues of equity, intellectual property rights and unilateral trade mechanisms on the negotiation table, even though developed countries like the United States and Singapore opposed their introduction.

Down To Earth Cover Story: Future shock

As the world continues to pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the global temperatures could rise by 3°C by mid-century, says a soon-to-be-released report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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Factsheet: The emissions imbalance

In 2007, the US had less than 5 per cent of the global population, but it accounted for 20 per cent of global CO2 emissions. India, with almost 17 per cent of global population, accounted for less than 5 per cent of the emissions.  More on who is emitting and how much.

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Factsheet: Will the developed world meet their Kyoto Protocol target?

A report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency says the developed world will meet their Kyoto Protocol target and blames India and China for the increase in global CO2 emissions in 2010. But that is not true. Read the analysis  that brings out the bias in the report

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