CODEL PELOSI ENGAGES INDIAN ENERGY EXPERTS ON CLIMATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000942

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS
DEPT OF ENERGY FOR TCUTLER, CGILLESPIE, MGINZBERG
USDOC FOR A/S BOHIGIAN
NSC FOR DAN PRICE
CEQ FOR JAMES CONNAUGHTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV ENRG ECON TSPL TRGY KSCA KGHG IN
SUBJECT: CODEL PELOSI ENGAGES INDIAN ENERGY EXPERTS ON CLIMATE
CHANGE

NEW DELHI 00000942 001.2 OF 003



1. SUMMARY: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI),
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chairman Dr. R.K.
Pachauri's powerful NGO, brought out its leading experts to brief
CODEL Pelosi on climate change and answer questions in a roundtable
meeting held at the TERI Gram Campus in Gurgaon. Pachauri pulled no
punches and neither did Dr. Prodipto Ghosh or Ambassador
Chandrashekher Dasgupta, both of whom are Distinguished Fellows at
TERI and special advisors to Prime Minister Singh on Climate Change.
CODEL Pelosi responded with a series of questions on the best way
to move forward in combating climate change including increased
international cooperation, deforestation, and the role of both
developed and developing countries in finding a solution to the
global problem. END SUMMARY.


2. Dr. Pachauri began the discussion by recounting the incident at
the Bali Conference of Parties in December 2007 when a
representative of Papua New Guinea told the U.S. delegation in open
session to "lead or get out of the way." Pachauri, who considers
the United States a second home, said he was dismayed by the broad
support given to the representative of Papua New Guinea and the
thunderous applause that followed his statement. Pachauri was
assured by several members of CODEL Pelosi that there would be no
call for such statements in the future as the U.S. assumed a greater
leadership role on climate change.

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TERI CLAIMS INDIA IS DOING ITS PART
--------------


3. Ambassador Dasgupta laid out the Government of India's (GOI)
position that all countries must make an effort to adapt to climate
change and mitigate its effects pursuant to common but
differentiated responsibilities. He noted that PM Singh announced
the GOI is drafting a comprehensive climate change action plan to be
adopted by June 2008. Although the plan is not finalized, Dasgupta
provided a sense of what it will contain by characterizing India as
a poor country with low coping capacity to deal with the effects of
climate change. He stated industrialized countries can cope better
due to stronger infrastructure and that India must build its
infrastructure in order to deal with the growing threat.


4. Dr. Ghosh also played up India's developing country status by
noting it was imperative for India to provide energy to the 400
million people who have no access to energy today. He went on to
rattle off India's poverty statistics, noting one-third of India's
citizens live on less than a dollar a day while three-fifths live on
less than two dollars a day. He stated India needed to grow for the
next 20 to 25 years, but highlighted India's commitment to
mitigation by noting the country has a very aggressive program on
renewables and an energy efficiency law requiring major buildings
and industrial enterprises to have an annual energy audit. He
stated the last 15 years have shown a steady decline in India's
energy intensity and that India surpassed Germany and was close to
Japan in terms of energy intensity. He also noted India has
committed 2.67% of its GDP to address climate variability, floods,
droughts, vector borne disease, and extreme weather events. Ghosh
concluded by claiming India has a solid slate of policy measures to
address adaptation and mitigation.

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CHINA VERSUS INDIA
--------------


5. Congressman Miller noted that, during the negotiations leading
up to the Kyoto Protocol, the Chinese took a very strong "develop
first - clean up later" view but that now it seems like the gap in
perspective on climate change between developed and developino
countries is narrowing. Pachauri responded by stating China is
convinced it will suffer greatly from climate change. He said
China's Premier Wen Jiabao believes in the necessity to address the
issue but that the economic development council is still maintaining
a development at any cost attitude.


6. Dr. Ghosh took a different tack by highlighting the differences
between India and China. He stated India didn't have the same
debate China did in the run-up to Kyoto because India had already

NEW DELHI 00000942 002.2 OF 003


put in place policies to promote food security and environmental
conservation, and to address climate change. India has never been
complacent about environmental damage due to growth, he said.
Echoing Ghosh's statements, Pachauri remarked that India is "keen on
the environment" and that large hydropower projects, such as China's
three gorges dam, won't be built in India because they would never
pass environmental muster. Dasgupta added that another difference
between the two countries was the role of the courts in
environmental protection, citing the Public Interest Litigation case
which brought CNG to Delhi's public transport system as an example.


-------------- --
DEFORESTATION, REFORESTATION, AND AFFORESTATION
-------------- --


7. The delegation raised the importance of forests in combating
climate change and asked for TERI's opinion on structuring credits
for avoiding deforestation and promoting reforestation. Pachauri
answered that the problem with credits in this context is
verification. Dasgupta took the point further, noting that it was
not enough to reward countries for not destroying their forests, but
that it was important to incentivize afforestation. He expressed
disappointment that afforestation projects are not supported under
the Clean Development Mechanism, as forestry was a major part of any
future climate change mitigation regime.

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THE WAY FORWARD
--------------


8. According to Ghosh, the key to moving forward was equity. He
stated no international agreement on climate change would stand if
it was perceived as inequitable, and that any agreement must be seen
as fair to be sustainable. He also noted there were currently three
energy flows that could replace fossil fuels - nuclear, solar, and
biomass - but that the world needed more international cooperation
on research and development to bring down costs in order to make
these technologies competitive with fossil fuels. Asked for TERI's
opinion on how such international cooperation in research should be
structured, Pachauri responded that there was no need for new
institutions, but rather a need for new programs with a focus on
specific goals. He suggested that a USG agency, such as the
National Science Foundation, should setup a task force in which
international partners could develop new techniques together. Dr.
Ghosh suggested setting up a venture capital fund in an institution
such as the World Bank which would fund competitive proposals for
research and development. The fund could use the framework of the
Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, he added,
noting that it had worked well.


9. Congressman Markey inquired what India's goal for wind and solar
power was in the context of the nuclear deal. The nuclear deal was
just a beginning, Pachauri stated, while, India should have 40 - 50
MW in wind power over the next 15 years. There was still a lot of
work to be done on solar power, he noted, adding that he hoped to
see 100 MW solar plants in a few years.


10. Paul Pelosi asked Pachauri whether the private sector in India
had become involved in green technology, and whether the private
sector saw combating climate change as an economic opportunity.
Pachauri replied that there had not been much focus by the private
sector in the past, but that it was growing and on the verge of
takeoff.


11. Several members of the delegation noted that the scientists
continued to shorten the period in which to act and asked what could
be done to address climate change in the short term. Pachauri
remarked that all the technologies needed to win the battle were
available now, and that there were good stories from around the
world. For example, the average number of miles driven in Japan had
come down in recent years due to an increase in public
transportation. He went on to state "it's not rocket science" and
that we needed to shift priorities, advance public transport, focus
on energy efficient buildings, and put a price on carbon to
incentivize the process.

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12. COMMENT: Considering Dr. Ghosh and Ambassador Dasgupta are on
the GOI's negotiating team in the Major Economies Mechanism (MEM)
Process and will play a major role in developing India's position in
the forthcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) talks on a post-Kyoto framework, their comments to
CODEL Pelosi indicate they are feeling the effects of U.S. pressure
to make real commitments on greenhouse gas emissions. Their strong
emphasis on equity and fairness, along with repeated claims of
Indian poverty, coupled with an exaggerated assertion India spends
2.67% of it GDP on addressing climate change (this figure ostensibly
includes monies spent on malaria eradication, local weather
forecasting, and normal monsoonal drought and flood relief) all
indicate India is digging in its heels in the run-up to Copenhagen

2009. END COMMENT.


13. This cable has been approved by CODEL Pelosi.


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