Gore calls on India to lead in facing climate change challenge

New Delhi, Mar 15 (UNI) Nobel Laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore today told the India leadership to put a price on carbon and disagreed with them that cutting carbon emissions to mitigate climate change would hurt the country's growth.

India, which has so much to offer in various fields, should take the opportunity to lead the world in finding a solution to climate change, said Mr Gore who was delivering the keynote address at the concluding session of the India Today Conclave.

A number of senior Cabinet Minister and celebrities and experts from different walks of life were present on the occasion.

''You should tax the polluter but exempt the public from taxes, and the loss you would suffer by cutting on carbon fuel can be compensated by the more taxes you levy on the polluter,'' said Mr Gore, who shared this year's Nobel Prize with the UN body on Climate Change IPCC, headed by India's Dr R K Pachauri.

He said India has the technology and manpower and business leadership to play an active role in helping the world overcome the crisis of global warming.

He said it was sad that his country(US) that should have been providing the solution to the climate change was not playing its role.

Though public opinion has changed a lot in his country still the issue did not evoke the urgency required, he said.

The former US Vice President said that people of his country would have to show the same spirit in helping the world overcome the present crisis as they did after the Second World War to help war-devastated Europe.

The Nobel Laureate made an impassioned plea for stopping the use of powerful technologies in unsustainbale exploitation of the earth's natural resources.

He also called for putting a check on growing population, as part of the measure to save the world from reaching an unsustainable state, and stressed that girls' education , women empowerment and health services would go a long way in achieving these objectives.

Mr Gore said one of the most important tool in fighting the climate change was taking the message down to the masses.

UNI NAZ RS2350