NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's raucous democracy, endemic poverty and soaring economic ambition make targeting greenhouse gas emissions cuts a hard sell, even as global pressure mounts on the government to do more on climate change.
New Delhi says priority must go to economic growth to lift millions out of poverty while shifting to clean energy led by solar power.
The government sets no greenhouse caps, but says per-capita carbon emissions will never exceed those of developed nations. India's per-capita annual emissions are about 1.2 tons, compared with China's 4.1 tons and Australia's 28 tons.
Such arguments, Western leaders say, are just a fig leaf for India's apparent reluctance to act. Critics say New Delhi lacks the political will to implement stringent laws.
The truth, say analysts, lies somewhere in between -- high growth at any cost and responsible behavior on tackling emissions growth.
India is the world's fourth largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and some studies suggest it could soon overtake Russia to become number three after China and the United States.
"India lacks political will, simply because climate is not a popular issue with Indians at large," said K. Srinivas of Greenpeace's climate change campaign, during Reuters Global Environment Summit.
"In most cases tough decision-making is put off, not because of economic growth concerns, but populist politics."
Free electricity is a good example. It often forms part of political parties' election agenda even though power regulators oppose it as wasteful and mostly benefiting rich farmers.
Likewise, tougher emissions laws for vehicles haven't been implemented under pressure from users and the automobile lobby. Power equipment companies have resisted switching over to energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs.
Policy implementation was also hindered by inter-ministry competition.
For instance, several ministries want their say in the fuel efficiency debate. While the Bureau of Energy Efficiency has the mandate to implement energy conservation policies, the transport ministry wants to implement this as part of Euro emissions standards.
"SOUND LOGIC"
"Many times people work at cross purposes," said a climate change official on condition of anonymity. "Unlike China, politics here is disparate."
Analysts said while China's single-party government could implement tough decisions -- it aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent by 2010 -- India's disparate democracy hinders setting targets. Continued...
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