New Delhi:
Jairam Ramesh and Todd Stern are two men with two very different points of view.
US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern had hoped to get India to commit to further reductions on green house gas emissions. India held firm. India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh maintained that any new commitments would not be possible without hurting India's growth.
But both sides have however resolved to work together and both men could meet as early as September in Washington for bilateral talks, ahead of the climate change summit in Copenhagen later this year.
- India and the US have decided to work together to develop Clean technology
- India has also suggested joint research in forestry management
- India also assured the US that even with an 8 per cent growth rate upto 2030 its per-capita emissions will be within reasonable limits
India has also pledged to spend 3 billion US dollars over the next couple of years on afforestation and re-generating depleted forests which act as carbon sinks and trap green house gasses. India is hoping to gain carbon credits from this which can then be traded in the international market for cash.
India has also asked the US and the developed countries to allow for the transfer of clean technology.
"We have asked them to make it so that there is a transfer of technology and to lower barriers so that this technology can come to the developing countries and particularly India," said Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy.
Ironically while the developed world has historically been the main contributor of greenhouse gasses, it is the developing nations which are facing facing paying the costs and face the full brunt of its effects.