National Action Plan by 2008 to reduce carbon emissions

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Dec 18 (UNI) A National Action Plan will be ready by 2008, aimed at mitigating the adverse impact of climate change in the country, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

''It will be a roadmap to various industries to introduce greenhouse technology and the Government will provide incentives, including tax concessions,'' Mr Sibal told a joint press conference along with Minister of State for Environment Namo Narain Meena.

Mr Sibal, who led the Indian delegation at the recent Conference on Climate Change in Bali, said the 2008-Action Plan would be independent of the deal at the Conference to start negotiations to adopt a new climate pact.

The Conference also provided for a two-year agenda that would lead to the adoption in Copenhagen in 2009 of a tougher, wider pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

''Bali or no Bali, Copenhagen or no Copenhagen, we are committed to providing a clean environment to our future generation... but we don't want the international community to impose conditionalities on us,'' Mr Sibal said.

He said the Government's first priority was eradicating poverty, and ''if we are able to fight poverty by sustaining more than 9 per cent growth for the next 20-30 years, then half of the battle would already be won''.

Mr Meena said the Action Plan was being prepared at the Prime Minister's level.

''At the ministry level, an experts' committee has been set up to recommend measures to adapt to new technology.'' Both said the next two years, before the Copenhagen protocol was adopted, would be a tough period of negotiations as developed countries would emphasise that India being a high growth economy should contribute more to reducing emissions.

The Bali deal binds the United States and China to greenhouse gas goals for the first time, but excludes India, which Mr Sibal describes as a big victory.

UNI

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