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    IPCC highlights need to formulate climate policies without compromising growth

    Synopsis

    "The high speed mitigation train would have to leave the station soon and all of global society would need to get on board," said IPCC chairman RK Pachauri.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: Among the challenges that will face India's new government, when it takes office in May, is how to address climate change while ensuring high economic growth and increased urbanisation.

    A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released on Sunday, which stressed the urgent need to reduce emissions to avert catastrophic climate change also made it clear that such actions will not have to sacrifice economic growth.

    "The high speed mitigation train would have to leave the station soon and all of global society would need to get on board," said IPCC chairman RK Pachauri.

    The report, which deals with human interventions to reduce carbon emission, is the third installment of IPCC's fifth assessment report, reviewing scientific and other relevant literature, research and studies on climate change.

    For countries like India, the IPCC Working Group III report is of great significance as it stresses on the sustainable development and equity in the context of climate policies. The report has also stressed on the importance of the co-benefits approach—an acceptance that climate policy intersects with other goals such as health, food security, local environmental quality, energy access and livelihoods.

    "The big message from the IPCC is that locating climate policy in the context of development. This is an important message for India—that climate policy doesn't have to be at the cross hair of development," said Navroz Dubash, the lead author on national and sub-national policies for the IPCC report.

    The report suggests that loss to economic growth on account of measures taken to address climate change will not be as substantial as traditionally understood.

    "Ambitious mitigation would reduce growth by about 0.06 percentage points of GDP in a year. This estimate doesn't take into account the benefits that would be derived from lower carbon emissions such as improved local air quality and health," said Ottomar Edenhofer, co-chair of the Working Group III.

    There were concerns however that political divide between the rich industrialized countries and the developing countries, which had for long impeded a concerted global action on climate change had adversely affected the IPCC's report for policy makers. "The report skirts the contentious issues. Ideally it should have come strong on technology and funds transfer," said Shreekant Gupta of Delhi University and the co-ordinating lead author for the chapter on integrated risk and uncertainity.

    This disappointment aside, Gupta stresses that the Indian government must prioritise adaptation and take the co-benefit approach to climate. "Focus has to be on renewables and sustainable transport, that will reduce our consumption of oil, for which we are highly dependent on foreign imports. This will be good for the country, economically and reduce emissions as well," he said.

    To ensure that global mean temperature doesn't rise beyond 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, investment in the energy sector will need to move from conventional technologies based on fossil fuel power plants to low carbon options such as renewable sources and nuclear energy.


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