As the world seeks to address the threat of climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a strong pitch for nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels at the summit of the eight industrial democracies this week at Gleneagles, Scotland.Along with the top leaders of China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, Singh will be joining the leaders of G-8 in Scotland to discuss practical ways to deal with the challenge of global warming.Amidst the intense trans-Atlantic squabble over global warming, there is an interesting congruence of views between India and the developing countries on the one side and the US on the other.While the Europeans emphasise on regulations and quotas for the worldwide reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions, the Bush Administration’s focus is on development of new options like nuclear power, clean coal technology and the use of hydrogen fuel for the transportation sector.British Prime Minister Tony Blair is desperately trying to bridge the divide and put together a new global consensus to address the threat posed by the burning of fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide and raise global temperatures.The earlier consensus on reducing carbon emissions, the Kyoto Protocol, has been rejected by the Bush Administration.Singh will insist that the principal responsibility for the reduction of global emissions of carbon dioxide rests with the advanced countries. The G-8 countries—the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia—account for 65 per cent of global GDP and 47 per cent of world’s carbon emissions.While underlining the importance of “common but differentiated responsibility” between the developed and developing countries, Singh would argue that answers to global warming must not come in the way of economic development. Nor should the regimes of global warming restrict the use of energy use by developing countries.This was the point President Bush was making last week when he quoted former prime minister Indira Gandhi to say poverty and underdevelopment were the greatest sources of pollution.The practical way to go beyond the Kyoto Protocol, India recognises, lies in deploying new energy technologies that will help both developed and developing nations to reduce carbon emissions.The renewed worldwide interest in nuclear energy comes at a time when Delhi has stepped up its diplomatic campaign to remove the current international restrictions against atomic energy cooperation with India.As Singh presses India’s case of nuclear energy development, President Bush has been promoting nuclear energy at home and has talked of sharing it with with fast growing economies like India.Even the powerful environmental movements around the world, once sworn enemies of nuclear power, are beginning to have second thoughts. The G-8 summit is expected to broadly endorse greater use of nuclear power.That sentiment will not be enough for India. It needs a change of current rules to allow civilian nuclear cooperation with India. This issue will figure prominently in the meeting between Singh and Bush at the White House on July 18.
