China and India, Challenges and Opportunity for Two Key Players in Global Climate Negotiations
The International workshop on Reconciling Domestic Energy Needs and Global Climate Policy: Challenges and Opportunities for China and India – jointly organized by ICCG, CMCC and FEEM – held on the 15th March 2010 at Palazzo Querini Stampalia in Venice, must be highlighted as a special event in which major world experts of energy and climate policy in China and India debated and interacted on the topic of China and India active role in global climate policy arena.
A first set of presentations have introduced – using global and regional models – future energy, economic and emission scenarios for both countries. While another set define domestic climate policy in both countries and the international climate policy framework after Copenhagen.
In particular, modelling scenarios presented during the Workshop were crucial to identify the different economic structures of China and India. Indeed, models are useful tools to produce reference and mitigation scenarios that inform policy makers on the key criticalities and give important information in order to build a proper policy. Secondly, models could provide important insights about how the system might react to a specific climate policy.
China and India: two faces of a different coin
In the climate change context, China and India are always put together as the big emerging economies and thus key players in climate negotiations. There are indeed several similarities, but also substantial differences.
First, their priorities rely on growth, development and poverty alleviation. Second, both countries have experienced impressive economic growth over the past decades and they are in the process of radically transforming their economies and their energy sectors. Especially, because for both of them coal is still the primary energy supply.
China has grown and it is projected to continue to grow faster than India. GDP per capita will reach the Rest of the World average in 2050 while India remains well behind and such gap is projected not to change. Associated to the economic growth, China accounts higher greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions than India’s. In 2030, they would be in absolute terms around 11 billion tCO2 and 3 billion tCO2, respectively for China and India. Also China’s per capita emissions (around 7.50 tCO2) will be well above the world’s average and is projected to be about 3 times that of India in 2030 [see the presentation GHG Scenarios in China and India edited by Emanuele MASSETTI].
Hence, this similarity in the growing trend of GDP and carbon emissions hides a big difference in the size. This can be explained by several key drivers such as their economic and social structure which differs significantly.
With regard to climate change, China and India are already actively engaged. Each of them has committed itself to quantified targets both on energy efficiency and the use of clean energy and technologies (e.g. carbon capture and storage). During the workshops, speakers described and analysed domestic policies which are summarized below.
| Domestic Climate Policies and Actions | ||
|---|---|---|
| CHINA | – 1994: “White Paper on China’s Population, Environment and Development” – 11th Five-Year Plan (2005-2010) on National Economic and Social Development: 20% target reduction on energy intensity per GDP by 2010 – 2007: China’s National Climate Change Programme – 2008: China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change – 2009: China’s carbon intensity will decrease by 40%-45% compared to 2005 Other actions: Goals achieved: 2. Phase-out of obsolete production capacity: by October 2008, China had closed coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of 34.21 million kw, equivalent to 65 million tons of reduced CO2 emissions. |
|
| INDIA |
The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 30th June 2008 Eight National Missions form the core of the NAPCCC:
2009: 24% reduction in emissions intensity relative to 2005 by 2020 Other actions: |
Challenges in the international climate policy
It is important to have China and India on board with limited but realistic and mandatory commitments.
Without their contribution ambitious GHG stabilization targets cannot be reached. This is why developed nations ask China and India to make tangible efforts to reduce GHG emissions. Those two countries play a key role for future negotiations not only as two of the highest emitters in the world but also because all other developing countries follow their actions.
A step on the right way has been taken. In the last Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen both countries made voluntary commitments mainly focusing on energy intensity target: 40-45% for China and 20-25% for India.
However, China and India need to extend their level of ambition, further making credible quantified domestic commitments. This has to be done balancing their rights to grow and their growing responsibility for increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Especially because their contribution will be crucial in the medium- and long-term more than in the short term.
Challenges are in the overcoming actual barriers behind the proper implementation of climate policies in China and India. These are mainly represented by existing obsolete infrastructures, lack of information about comparative energy use and bureaucracy.
Related content
- the web site of the International Workshop Reconciling Domestic Energy Needs and Global
Climate Policy: Challenges and Opportunities for China and India, with participants papers and presentations