India rebuffs the US on climate change: a Biofuels Digest special report

By Biofuels Digest special correspondent Joelle Brink

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came away from her recent meetings in India with two sites for US nuclear power plants, but not much else. Ironically, her visit coincided with Indian Railways’ announcement of a new biodiesel-CNG flex fuel system to be retrofitted on the diesel locomotives of the world’s largest railroad, and a lead story in the Washington Post entitled “A Growing India Sets Goal to Harness Renewable Energy”, highlighting the success and new targets of India’s 26 year old Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

According to the New York Times, “India voiced its rejection of the American position in an awkwardly public forum: during a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to an energy-efficient office building here on the outskirts of New Delhi that was supposed to celebrate cooperation between India and the United States on climate policy.

In a closed-door meeting with Mrs. Clinton after she marveled at the building’s high-tech features, India’s environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, said, “There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have among the lowest emissions per capita, face to actually reduce emissions. If this pressure is not enough,” he continued, “we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours.”

India is ready to cooperate on climate change if the goals are measured on a per capita basis, but holds that goals measured on a per country basis unfairly penalize citizens of developing nations, especially the poor. It must be particularly galling to Indian negotiators that Indian Railways’ free training and technical assistance outreach to foreign railroads has so far produced so little actual migration to biodiesel and reduction in rail emissions among the Western nations pushing to curb India’s emissions. What is at stake here is as much economic power as climate change. Delhi views current environmental initiatives as a tactic to forestall the ascendancy of India and China that George Soros has predicted as a consequence of the present global recession. India’s economy is still growing at 6-7% while that of the US is shrinking.

One thing is sure. The economic victors will be those nations that roll out renewable energy at scale and reap the benefits, not those that merely talk about it, dabble, or speculate on startup companies. It’s time to start asking: How do we measure up?

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