Rich nations must commit to deep cuts in emissions: Pachauri

New Delhi, Jul 8 (UNI) Dr R K Pachauri, who heads the Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change, today said there had been no major breakthroughs on Climate change since the Bali Action Plan, and urged the G8 countries to come up with deep cuts in emissions as promised in the plan.

''They must play a lead role in curbing greenhousegas emissions and commit to specific quantitative emission reduction targets,'' he said, while addressing a conference here.

The Bali Action Plan was adopted last year at a UN conference to work towards an agreement on limate change.

Lamenting that there had been no major breakthroughs on limate change, he, however, categorically said India could not be held responsible for emission levels.''We are an expanding economy with still 400 million people not having access to electricity. We cannot impose caps at this point of time.'' Stating that conversion of food grains into bio-fuels was pushing up the food prices and leading to rise in deforestation, Dr Pachauri said the developed also need to take action to reduce their policies concerning subsidies and tariffs benefitting grain and oil seed biofuels that leave millions deprived of food.

However, he recommended bio-fuel from Jatropha plant as a good option and stressed that solar and wind energy use should be made more popular.

Urging the Government to roll back the subsidies on kerosene, Dr Pachauri said, ''Kerosene subsidies, while having aided the poor to obtain lighting in the past, are not only incompatible with a climate change mitigation policy, but also becoming exobitant in terms of social costs due to rising fuel prices.'' He said due to rapidly rising fuel prices, under recoveries for kerosene have been projected to lie between Rs 62,283 crores to Rs 247,312 crores this fiscal. Even Industry body ASSOCHAM has pointed out that a third of the subsidised kerosene was also diverted to the black market or for adulteration, he added.

Asked about the impact on the energy situation the Indo-US Nuclear deal was likely to have, the IPCC chief said,''Our demand for energy is so high that there is no space for one becoming the enemy of the other.'' Dr Pachauri, who was also associated with the National Action Plan on Climate Change released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week, said as India was poised towards becoming a greater economic power on the world stage, it can undoubtedly influence the course of developments across the globe. ''All stakeholders including the Government, the corporates, the civil society and academia could work together to reduce global warming.'' UNI MMG GL GC1856