US green guys here to give a clean-up, score brownie point

‘‘Why should we not discuss possibilities with the US as after President George W. Bush has come in, they have removed the cap on nuclear energy, are increasing their thermal capacity, and are much cleaner than before,’’ said V. Reghuraman, Senior Adviser, Energy, CII.

Green experts were puzzled at the sudden US interest in India’s energy concerns. ‘‘The meeting is pointless unless the country lays down rules for CDMs,’’ said R.K. Pachauri, newly-appointed chair of the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who also spoke at the seminar.

Minister of Power Suresh Prabhu, one of the speakers, said: ‘‘I made it clear that as far as climate change negotiations are concerned, India was under no obligation to reduce their greenhouse gas emission as of now. There is tremendous scope in involving the private sector in CDMs. So, I asked the US what they could do for us.’’

What is the guarantee that outdated technologies are not dumped in India to gain points back home? ‘‘A year ago, we set up an R&D cell in the Ministry, which has done enough spade-work to ensure we get nothing less than cutting-edge technology,’’ said Prabhu.

The Ministry of Environment, the main negotiating body in climate change negotiation, was conspicuous by its absence.

Kyoto protocol had already laid down rules for CDMs and technology transfer to developing countries. ‘‘We believe that much more can be done beyond the Kyoto protocol which just looks at carbon dioxide emissions,’’ said Richard Lawson, former president of the US National Mining Association and co-chairman at the seminar.