While many developed nations view India as a spoiler in the battle against climate change due to its staunch refusal to agree to mandatory emission cuts,it won the support of two of the UK governments emissaries. UKs Minister for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband and Minister for International Development Douglas Alexander,who are on a two day tour of India,have declared their intention of telling the developed world of Indias commitment to climate change. In an exclusive interview to The Indian Express,Miliband and Alexander,who went through Indias National Action Plan on Climate Change on Wednesday,said that the message they were taking back to the developed world was that India has already made serious commitments to climate change through the Action Plan. Its important that the developed world understand that India has taken on very important commitments through its Action Plan. The domestic action here on climate change is very impressive. This is the message that we are taking back to the developed world and to Britain, Miliband said. We have come here to hear the voices of Indian Ministers and experts as Indias voice is one of those which are central to the Copenhagen agreement. We are here from London to discuss how Britain and India can make a global deal at Copenhagen possible,Miliband said. More than 180 countries are headed to a crucial United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen where an international deal on reducing emissions for tackling climate change is expected. He said that India was one of the least responsible for climate change and in an echo of Indias stand said that developing countries had to be provided funds to tackle climate change. The two said that Indias ambitions regarding the Solar Mission of the Action Plan,which proposes generating 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2020 is one that can make India a global leader in the field. They had visited Indias first solar housing complex,Rabi Rashmi Abasan in West Bengal on Tuesday. The two met Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday to discuss how a global deal could be struck at Copenhagen. They,however,admitted that a such a deal would not be easy to pull off. The problem with the Kyoto protocol was that the US was not involved. But while the legal form is important,we need to reach a political agreement. I am non-theological about the form of the agreement,but we have to agree politically. We are ready to walk a thousand miles for that agreement, Miliband says. The UK also pledged ten million pounds to The Energy and Resources Institute for research on poverty alleviation and sustainable growth.
