Mumbai: The global climate change negotiations should be based on the simple principle, ''the polluter pays,'' Shyam Saran, prime minister's special envoy, said at a seminar on `Climate change and India', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

He said while the US contributed 30 per cent of global carbon emissions from the days of the industrial revolution beginning the 1850s till the year 2000,  the EU-25 came second with 27.2 per cent and China with 7.3 per cent while India accounted for only 2 per cent of the global emissions. Multilateral negotiations on climate change should be based on equity, stressed Saran. 

India, currently accounts for four per cent of global emissions, compared to 20 per cent for US and 16 per cent for China, Saran said, adding, "India emits about 1.1 tonnes of carbon per capita while the corresponding figure for US is more than 20 tonnes."

"Though a few developed countries have attempted to avoid their legal obligations under UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol by arguing that till India and China remains outside emission regime, their own efforts will make little difference. India does not consider itself a major emitter by way of total volume of carbon emissions or per capita emissions", Saran pointed out.

 He said there is no legal obligation on India under the existing international climate change framework to take on binding emission reduction obligations, now or in the post-2012 period. India's negotiating position on climate change, he said, is:

* Kyoto Protocol does not expire in 2012, nor are developing countries expected to take on reduction commitments in post 2102 period.
* The responsibility to support sustainable development strategies in developing countries, through the transfer of financial resources and technology from developed countries should not be linked to any conditionality on developing countries.

*While developed countries are free to adopt sectoral approaches as a means to achieve their national emission reduction targets, there cannot be an imposition of industry-wide norms on a global basis, nor recourse to arguments about maintaining trade competitiveness or a level playing field. UNFCC framework does not feature trade competitiveness in climate change negotiation.

* Post Kyoto framework should have an expanded commitment from developed countries for carbon emission and the global carbon market should also increase.
*.An active role in Clean Development Mechanism where India has largest portfolio of CDM projects to date.

Yet, he said, India has made number of positive and forward looking proposals:In the G8+G5 summit in Germany, last year, prime minister Manmohan Singh gave a public assurance that while India's carbon emissions may rise in the short and medium term, but per capita carbon emissions in India will not, at any time, exceed the average of the developed countries per capita emissions.

"We are in the process of formulating India's National Plan on climate change to be released in June this year. It constitutes a strategy for sustainable development and will include major national level missions, such as Solar Mission, a National Solid Waste Management Plan, a nation wide effort to create a huge carbon sink of afforested land, Water Conservation Mission and adoption of international best practices and efficiency norms for a range of key industries. All these are seen as public private partnerships", stressed Mr Saran.

Present at the CII Seminar was Mr who emphasized on the issue of climate change taking center stage in global discussions.

Speaking on the occasion, Jamshyd N Godrej, chairman and managing director, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., called upon industry captains to back the government's in their efforts to tackle the issue of climate change heads on.

"Issue to be addressed is very deep as affects of global warming are for all of us to see. We have to recognize that climate change poses both challenges and opportunities. It has opened new business avenues in areas like recycling systems, water conservation systems and others, said Godrej.

"India is a responsible nation and is committed to growth with environmental responsibility. India has delivered a GDP growth rate of 8 per cent with only 3.7 per cent growth in its total primary energy consumption", said V Raghuraman, principal advisor and chief co-ordinator, energy, environment and natural resources, Confederation of Indian Industry.

While highlighting the impacts of climate change on India like increased exposure to cyclones, sea level rise and adverse impact on agricultural yield among others, he said there would be huge risks on businesses also. He further presented strategies to combat climate change as to moderate energy demand by increasing energy efficiency; focus on renewable energy and switch towards cleaner conventional energy technologies.

The CII seminar brought together representatives from the government and industry to discuss and debate the critical issue of impact of climate change on India and the country's approach to multilateral negotiations on the global platform.