Amitabh Sinha: India may face coal heat in Paris According to the correspondent of “The Hindu”’ in Paris, “there were unmistakable signals that India would get singled out over the next two weeks over its plans to expand use of coal to meet its growing energy demands.”
Sujata Byravan: No dilution of concept of “differentiated responsibilities” "By asking all countries to develop bottom-up commitments to reduce their emissions," she argues, "any differentiation among countries, whether rich or poor, has been diminished significantly."
Civil Society: India should be even more ambitious on renewables The Climate Action Network South Asia acknowledges India’s INDC but hopes for more: “India has a unique opportunity to lead by example and increase its ambition to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.”
Samir Saran: For every new Indian coal plant, shut down one in OECD For Samir Saran, vice-president of the influential think-tank Observer Research Foundation, India has every right to use the carbon space freed by the developed world without restrictions.
The Hindu: India to press for equity at Paris India’s strategy at the Paris Climate Change summit will be to work with emerging economies and press the developed world to concede that responsibility for cutting carbon emissions after 2020 cannot be shared equally by rich and poor nations.
Sunita Narain: Against “climate apartheid” Sunita Narain, head of the influential environmental think-tank Centre for Science and Environment, fears that Paris will break down the “firewall” between countries responsible for climate change and the developing world.
Environment Minister Javadekar: No “unnatural restriction on natural growth” In an interview a month before the COP, Prakash Javadekar, India’s minister for the environment, stands his ground on India’s right to develop, and to emit: “If someone is putting restrictions on India or any developing country it is unacceptable.”
Arvind Subramanian: Research for Clean Coal with a new “Manhattan Project” Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to Prime Minister Modi, also sees no alternative for India’s using coal. But he wants the world to think big and advocates a massive research effort to make “clean coal” possible.
Shyam Saran: India has been again targeted as a spoiler For Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary and Indian special envoy on climate change, any restrictions on India’s use of coal would be unacceptable.
Raja Mohan: An “important shift in India’s climate diplomacy” Raja Mohan, a senior journalist and columnist of the Indian Express, judges Prime Minister Modi’s stress of joint responsibility as “an important shift in India’s climate diplomacy”.
