India must also cut emissions: Blair

India must join industrialised countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to avert a global-warming disaster...

India must join industrialised countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to avert a global-warming disaster,8221; former British prime minister Tony Blair said here on Thursday. Blair8217;s comments are in complete contrast to India8217;s official position that rich countries have the primary responsibility to reduce emissions, while India need to grow its economy.

Blair is in India on a mission called 8216;Breaking the climate deadlock8217; that seeks to garner political support for the successor of the Kyoto pact, which expires at the end of 2012. In a range of meetings organised with businessmen, politicians and policy-makers over the next two days in India, he will try to find a way out for the stuck 8220;new global deal8221;.

8220;The dilemma is this: how to cut a deal that has both the developed and developing in it, recognising that the obligations on the one can8217;t be the same as the obligations of the other8230; A deal that recognises the need to grow as well as the fact that the climate needs to be rescued,8221; he said at an event hosted by Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation, a UK-based philanthropic group.

He said that unilateral deals and actions in individual countries have not helped as the emissions were still rising. The US and other developed countries have promised deeper cuts if the new global pact includes growing economies such as China and India on the next global warming pact. He clarified that it would be unfair to deny developing nations like India the chance to expand.

8220;The countries where per capita emissions are far higher 8212; should bear the largest burden, but all nations should share in the solution,8221; he said. 8220;It is fair to ask India to play the part if we help with transfer of technology necessary to cut greenhouse gas emissions and help finance this in order to make this work.8221; He said the challenge was to find the funding mechanism that would enable this transfer of technology.

While acknowledging that the developed countries had created the problem of global warming in the first place, he said that it was true that if world as a whole does not cut emissions, it will not work.

8220;India has a great role to play. The Prime Minister8217;s Council on Climate Change can be powerful; with concerns on food security, water and energy security, India is a good place to begin,8221; he said.

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Blair was speaking in his role as a consultant to The Climate Group, a non-profit organisation funded by corporations and governments from around the world.

His aim is to rally support for a global pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.

The focus of 8216;Breaking the Climate Deadlock8217; is on regions fundamental to a successful global deal, including the USA, the European Union, Japan, India and China. The initiative aims at political support for a framework for an international agreement by 2009 and implementation strategies that will result in reductions of greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the levels suggested by the scientific community.