Greepeace says India's rich are big polluters

CLIMATE INJUSTICE: The report says affluent India has the means to reduce its footprint without compromising its lifestyle.

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Keywords: Rich, India

New Delhi: They are buying big cars, acquiring high-end appliances, flying more, consuming more. They are India's fast growing rich and middle class. They are also the best suited to adapt to the vagaries of climate change.

But, that is old news.

The latest is that these 150 million affluent Indians emit four to five times more greenhouse gases than the poor, well above what's climatically sustainable.

A latest Greenpeace report claims that it not not just the US and the European Union but also India's elite that are increasing the climate threat for the poor.

Greenpeace Executive Director, Anantha Padmanabhan says, "Big growth in emissions between poor and rich is coming from not necessities like

cooking. There is only so much cooking you can do. It's coming from things like air transport, cars and electronic goods. India can act to curb these without sacrificing development."

India's official stand has always been that India's per capita greenhouse gas emissions are only four per cent of the global total and as a developing nation it should not make any binding cuts, but the report asks for a policy re-think.

Padmanabhan says, "We should change the energy mix and reduce our carbon intensity which is among the highest in the world. We should commit to voluntary national targets and binding sectoral targets. India's stand for 20 years that it's somebody else's problem is not tenable anymore."

However, the Prime Minister's committee on climate change that is working on a national action report has a different logic.

A member of the committee, Prodipto Ghose says, "There is a myth floating around that we can effortlessly undertake mitigation measures. We cannot do that. First of all, added cost of energy serviced can be a big part of the GDO and the incremental investments are large."

For now, all eyes are on India's final stance on climate change. But whatever the policy measures, this report shows that one per cent of affluent India today has the means to reduce its footprint without compromising their lifestyle — they can do things like opt for energy efficient cars, looking for that single star on fridges or air conditioners or even by replacing bulbs and swapping the occasional air ticket for train travel.