The group of four major emerging economies - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - on Sunday expressed their intention to communication information on their voluntary mitigation actions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by January 31.

This decision was taken at the second Ministerial-level meeting of the Basic group of countries. The Basic members have already announced a series of voluntary mitigation actions for 2020, with India declaring to reduce its greenhouse gas emission intensity up to 25 per cent. The UNFCCC has asked the countries to convey by January 31 their stand on the legally non-binding Copenhagen Accord arrived at in the Danish capital.

The 15th Conference of the Parties (CoP 15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC) concluded in Copenhagen on 18 December, 2009. At Cop 13 in Bali in December, 2007, the UNFCCC Parties had decided to initiate a process to enhance the implementation of the Convention through Long- term Cooperative Agreement (LCA) as outlined in the Bali Action Plan and also agreed on the developed country emission reductions commitment in the next commitment period (beyond 2012) of the Kyoto Protocol (KP). The Bali Action Plan (BAP) addressed, inter alia, the mitigation commitment of Developed Countries Parties, adaptation actions, financing, technology and capacity- building support for these countries. Two Adhoc Working Groups (one for the LCA and one for the KP) had also been set up by the Parties to UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol with a mandate to negotiate and reach an agreed outcome on the issues at CoP at Copenhagen.

Copenhagen Conference

At the Copenhagen Conference, the negotiation in the two tracks - Bali Action Plan and the Kyoto Protocol were to be concluded and outcomes were to be reached. However, in course of negotiations over the past two years, large differences between Parties were noticed on many of the major issues, particularity those relating to mitigation and finance for climate change. In Copenhagen, movement on some of the issues was visible e.g. technology, adaptations and REDD plus. However, the differences in the negotiating positions of the Parties on other aspects persisted. As result, the Parties could not conclude the talks and have decided to continue with the ongoing negotiations in the two AWGs till CoP 16 scheduled at Mexico from Nov 29- Dec 10, 2010.

While engaging constructively with the international community on the issue, India has also pursued a strong domestic agenda for addressing climate change. Measures to decrease global temperature, quantified economy-wide emission reduction targets, mitigation actions through afforestation are few of the key features of this conference. India recognizes that a strategy for addressing climate change has to be based on the strategy of sustainable development. This is reflected in many of the major programmes addressing climate variability concerns. Current Government expenditure in India on adaptation to climate variability exceeds 2.6 per cent of the GDP, with agriculture, water resources, health and sanitation, forests, coastal zone infrastructure and extreme events, being specific areas of concern.

As a part of its international obligations under the UNFCCC, India prepares periodically the National Communication (NATCOM) that gives an inventory of the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in India, and assesses the vulnerability and impacts and makes appropriate recommendations regarding social, economic and technology measures for addressing climate change. First NATCOM was presented in 2004. The Government is engaged in preparing NATCOM II, which will be presented to the UNFCCC in 2011. Preparation of NATCOM II is an exercise based on an extensive network of research and scientific insertions in India and draws upon expertise and excellence from different institutions.

An expert committee set up by the Government has studied (2008) the impact of anthropogenic climate change on India and has come out with its first set of findings and the research agenda that the ministries need to follow and implant in order to address India's vulnerability to anthropogenic climate change impacts.

India has prepared a comprehensive National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) with a view to achieve sustainable development with co benefit in terms of climate change. Eight National Missions in the areas of solar energy, enhanced energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture, sustainable habitat, water, Himalayan eco-system, increasing the forest cover and strategic knowledge for climate change form the core of National Action Plan. Besides, there are several initiatives envisaged in the sectors pertaining to energy generations transport, renewable, disaster management and capacity building that are to be integrated with the development plans of the Ministries. The Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, set up in June, 2007 monitors the preparation of the National Missions and coordination and implementation of climate change related actions in India.

India's Five Year Plans include a strategy for sustainable growth resulting in low carbon sustainable development. 11th Five Year Plan includes an indicative target of increasing energy efficiency by 20% by 2016-17. The National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency implemented by the Ministry of Power through the Bureau of Energy Efficiency seeks to pursue this goal. Planning Commission estimates suggest that India's emission intensity has declined by 17.6 per cent between 1990 and 2005 and that a 20 to 25 per cent reduction in emission intensity between 2005 and 2020 is possible this will require that necessary actions in specific sectors are undertaken to reduce emission intensity with necessary provisions of financial and technological resources including the domestic and international support for achieving low carbon sustainable development. (PIB Features)