DELHI SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT FOCUSES ON CLIMATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 000503 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ENRG ECON TSPL TRGY KSCA KGHG IN SUBJECT: DELHI SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT FOCUSES ON CLIMATE CHANGE NEW DELHI 00000503 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. SUMMARY: The Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS),held February 7 - 9, 2008, attracted a wide range of world leaders but proved to be more of a coup for it's organizers, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) than for the theme of sustainable development and climate change with few new ideas expounded on either issue. Of note was strong Government of India (GOI) participation in the form of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's inaugural address and a surprising lack of attacks on the United States coupled with a much echoed sense that U.S. climate change policy was changing for the better. END SUMMARY. ¶2. The Delhi Sustainable Development Summit is an annual conference hosted by TERI, an Indian NGO whose Director General is IPCC chairman Dr. R.K. Pachauri. Over it's eight year history, the DSDS has been a reasonably important environmental event attracting Ministers of Environment from various countries. This year was different. The theme for 2008 was "Sustainable Development and Climate Change" and the event was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by the leaders of Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and the Maldives as well as the former leaders of the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Mexico. Also in attendance were Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC; Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban; and two Nobel laureates, Professor Carlo Rubbia and Professor F. Sherwood Rowland. Of particular note was the presence of senior officials from developing countries who usually do not participate in the DSDS such as Bhutan, Pakistan, Ghana, Iran, Laos, and Mauritania, all of whom sent representatives. ¶3. Taking advantage of the current prominence of the climate change issue as well as Dr. Pachauri's acceptance of a Nobel Prize on behalf of the IPCC, TERI used DSDS 2008 to showcase its ability to convene world leaders and express its desire to assume a global leadership role in sustainable development and environmental issues. Already an important player in India, it's longstanding relationship with the Ministry of Environment and Forests and its ties to the Prime Minister's office and other key players within the GOI adds to its clout. This is most notable in the area of climate change where in addition to Dr. Pachauri, TERI boasts two prominent members of the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, Ambassador Dasgupta and Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, who are both Distinguished Fellows at TERI as well as members of the GOI delegation to virtually all international climate change meetings. In an effort to broaden TERI's global reach, Pachauri also took the opportunity to announce his plan to establish a presence in Africa. -------------- PM SINGH'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS -------------- ¶4. Lending a great deal of gravity and import to the conference, PM Singh began his speech by urging the nations of the world to "do something, do it now, and do it right" and promising that India will be at the forefront of the movement. He went on to state India takes its responsibilities seriously and that his office was working on a national action plan to meet the challenge of climate change which is expected to be released in June 2008. Highlights of the plan were reduction in energy use, flood protection, afforestation, and reform of the public transportation sector. PM Singh noted he was considering setting up a national fund for green technologies and also articulated the idea that India's energy pricing policy may have contributed to environmental degradation. ¶5. On the issue of a Post-Kyoto framework, PM Singh stated he was prepared to commit that India's green house gas emissions would never exceed the average per capita emissions of developed industrial nations. PM Singh noted this was a "solemn commitment" and that the world can no longer maintain a global development plan where some countries far exceed the carbon footprint of others. He welcomed the opportunity to create a new global compact on climate change but insisted it must be based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and must encompass a fair and transparent regime for the transfer of new technology to developing nations. He concluded his speech by calling on young people to become more vocal on the issue of climate change. He made no mention of either the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate Change (APP) or India's participation in the Major Economies Mechanism (MEM). -------------- TREATMENT OF U.S. POLICY -------------- NEW DELHI 00000503 002.2 OF 002 ¶6. While there were some negative comments about U.S. climate policy such as a Bhutanese official's saying that all the U.S. has done is bought themselves more time and it is our time that they have bought, on the whole there were fewer attacks than at previous DSDS conferences. Overall, most of the remarks regarding the U.S. tended to express a belief that American policy was changing for the better although there was no mention of the MEM and only a passing reference to the APP during the conference. That said, in response to a question on how to get the United States more involved, the Spanish Minister of Environment, Maria Cristina Narbona Ruiz, stated the U.S. was already very involved and was becoming more so everyday. She put up a surprisingly strong defense of the United States and stated the world would see the U.S. take an important leadership role with the coming of the next administration. ¶7. Discussion of the next administration was a common theme at the conference with the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard, stating "the U.S. is key, new steps by the new administration are necessary, if not then I do not see how we can be successful in reducing emissions." Yvo de Boer drew unexpected applause when he said "we will have a new President next year" while discussing the post Bali scenario. Seemingly somewhat surprised by the reaction, he added the caveat that his statement "is a reference only to the constitution." ¶8. COMMENT: TERI's reputation is growing and its advice heeded. We expect TERI to be increasingly engaged not only with the GOI but also globally as it trades on both its unquestioned abilities and on Pachauri's status. PM Singh's presence at the inaugural is an indication of how highly valued TERI is by the GOI and we strongly suspect both his speech and the forthcoming national action plan came about with a great deal of input from TERI. The conference itself was short on new ideas and long on repetitive calls to action that have already been sounded in forums around the world. Although not referring to DSDS, Yvo de Boer could have summed up the conference well when he said "people perceive climate change as a soap opera where every episode is exciting, but if you do not watch it for three years, you have not missed anything." END COMMENT. WHITE