an arrangement that would relax obligation concerns and make room for organisations to support India’s nuclear industry. In any case, regardless of the possibility of reaching an accord, the proposed atomic force reactors will take several years to finish.
The climate negotiations are now finalised as a five-year MoU on aspects like ‘climate change, energy and security’ but without a major breakthrough at the moment. Both the leaders emphasised the initiation of future work plans at the earliest possible time to tackle this issue. The US president also emphasised meeting energy goals efficiently and on time, including the 100GW of solar power by 2022. This climate accord will likely enable India to cut its carbon emissions by adopting innovative and efficient energy measures.
In a joint press conference, Modi said, “For Obama and me, clean and renewable energy is a personal and national priority. We discussed our ambitious national efforts and goals to increase the use of clean and renewable energy. We agreed to enhance our excellent and innovative partnership in this”.
President Obama sought Prime Minister Modi’s help at the global climate talks in Paris later this year. These agreements with China and India are crucial steps towards the Paris UN climate agreement later this year. They will cut carbon emission by replacing coal-burning with nuclear energy projects leading to a reduction in global warming.
“The prime minister and I made a personal commitment to work together to pursue a strong global climate agreement in Paris”, said Obama. “As I indicated to him, I think India’s voice is very important on this issue.”
Earlier this month Secretary of State John Kerry tried to pave the way to reach an agreement on climate change before the president’s visit but failed to put things in perspective to win over Indian authorities. However, recently Indian authorities have been more keen about the development status of their country as the 300 million population has no access to electricity.
In the recent Lima climate talks nearly 200 nations agreed agreed to a reduction in burning coal, oil and gas – all of which lead to global warming. The Lima talks concluded with an agreement among big and developing nations to write a comprehensive plan with legislations regarding carbon emissions.
India is extremely vulnerable to climate change – which will affect food security, urbanisation and migration in densely populated cities. According to Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre, carbon emissions of India per capita are 1.7 metric tons.
Air pollution is the fifth leading cause of death in India, leading to 67,000 premature deaths in 2010, according to a study by the Centre for Science and Environment, a New Delhi-based research group. And by 2050, 40 million people in India could die from rising sea levels, according to the Center for Global Development’s Climate Vulnerability Index.
Despite the leadership’s serious concerns over the climate change deal, coal will account for over 60 percent in India’s power sector until 2030. Solar power and renewable energy will increase from six percent to 18 percent according to the government’s renewable energy plans.
The beginning of an important development between the US and India over climate change concerns will bring forth small but significant progress in the Paris meeting. These shifts between heavy carbon producing nations can definitely help in tackling the climate change issue.
The writer is a freelance columnist.
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