This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Administrator J. Brian Atwood
Confederation of Indian Industries
"Meeting the Challenge of Global Climate Change: New Paths, New Partnerships"
U.S. Agency for International Development
I would like to thank the Confederation of Indian Industries
for inviting me to speak. The confederation is playing a very
constructive role in promoting economic development and sound
environmental policies in India. I am grateful for the opportunity
to share some thoughts with such a distinguished group of
industry leaders.
The 50th anniversary of independence focused the world's
spotlight on India. I would like to join in congratulating you on
your remarkable achievements. I was particularly heartened to
see India's anniversary receive a great deal of attention from the
United States press. This brought a welcome opportunity for
Americans to understand the important role India plays in global
matters, and helped foster a better understanding of a sister
democracy with whom we share so many fundamental interests
and values.
Like all anniversaries, the independence celebration not only
gave India an opportunity to look back, but it also gave us an
occasion to look ahead. Clearly, as we anticipate the next fifty
years, many critical challenges remain. I would like to focus my
remarks today on one of the most difficult of those challenges:
global climate change. Just as the United States and India came
together to meet the food needs of a growing global population in
the 1960s, we must now join in common cause to prevent global
warming from undermining development in the coming century.
The American author and humorist Mark Twain once
observed that "everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does
anything about it." That is no longer the case. Collectively, we
are changing the weather. As President Clinton noted at the
United Nations in June, the science on climate change is clear
and compelling. Two thousand eminent scientists serving on the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in 1995
that human activity is having a "discernible impact on global
climate".
The greenhouse effect, as most of you know, is caused by
gases such as carbon dioxide which accumulate in the atmosphere
and trap solar radiation, increasing the earth's temperature.
Current levels of carbon dioxide are the highest in 200,000 years
and will soon reach double the concentrations of the pre-industrial
age. If this trend continues, scientists expect that global
temperatures will rise by 1 to 3.5 degrees centigrade over the
next century. What will this mean?
Sea levels are expected to rise one and a half feet, putting
100 million people around the world at risk from flooding and
storm surges. Bangladesh could lose nearly 20 percent of its
land. Island nations like the Maldives would be devastated. In
India, the increased sea level could displace more than seven
million people and increase flood prone areas by 300 percent.
Malaria, dengue and other water-related diseases would become
more common. Crops would suffer droughts in some areas while
enduring flooding elsewhere. Rice yields, forest productivity and
forest cover would all decline. It is clear that the economic and
human impact of climate change will be felt most acutely in
developing nations.
Both the United States and India today face a range of
pressing social and economic issues, and global climate change
has not traditionally been seen as a top priority. It is easy to
appreciate that a future problem of uncertain proportions is not as
compelling as meeting the urgent unmet needs of today's
generation. But we ignore the threat of global warming at our
grandchildren's peril. Climate change will seriously impact both
of our countries; and, if we do not begin now to slow down the
accumulation of greenhouse gases, we will face the need for
drastic action later.
The debate has just started in the United States. Some
economists fear that limiting greenhouse gas emissions will
constrain economic growth. Environmentalists worry about the
damage we are doing to the world's ecosystems and the costs to
generations -- to their health, to their food supplies, to their way
of life. The United States is the number one emitter of
greenhouse gas. We have built our economy on fossil fuel and
now we are being told we must change. This is not an easy issue
in my country. The world awaits our answer.
The international community will convene to consider
binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions in Kyoto, Japan this
December. This will be a difficult negotiation as economic
interests will clash with increasingly convincing scientific
evidence and the need for global action.
Whatever the result we achieve in Kyoto, the cumulative
effect of climate change will change the face of global politics in
the coming decades. Over 200 million environmental refugees
worldwide could be created by the combined affect of shifting
agricultural patterns, weather-related damage, epidemics and
disrupted water supplies. Scientists predict that a doubling of
atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations is a virtual certainty
under current trends. A tripling or quadrupling of greenhouse
gas concentrations would have even more drastic -- and
unpredictable -- effects.
Coping with climate change is not just a scientific issue, but
one which involves politics, policy, economics, finance and social
concerns. In democracies such as ours, wrestling with these
issues becomes particularly complex. Reaching global agreement
on these issues will be a major challenge. What is clear is that
American actions will affect public opinion here and India's
position will effect public opinion in the United States.
So we must ask ourselves today what more enlightened
people in both countries should do to avoid an impasse that will
set back the timetable for taking vital action.
Many argue that the industrialized countries have created the
climate change problem and that they must lead the way in
addressing the challenge. I agree. The United States is the
world's largest energy user, and we have a responsibility to take
action on our own domestic front to meet the challenge of climate
change. As President Clinton stated at the United Nations in
June, the United States "will bring to the Kyoto conference a
strong American commitment to realistic and binding limits that
will significantly reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases."
As part of the ongoing challenge of educating the American
people about the magnitude of the climate change problem,
President Clinton has called together industry leaders and
scientists for a full day White House conference on climate
change on October 6. A great deal of careful effort is going into
developing a credible American commitment to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
But the American public is already hearing that we are not
the only cause of the problem. Many in the U.S. who oppose
setting specific targets are pointing to other sources of greenhouse
gasses. They are asking why we should sign a treaty that does
not include nations that will contribute significantly to the
problem in the next two decades.
We do know, of course, that climate change is a global
phenomenon. While it is important to recognize that India and
other major developing countries not be asked to sacrifice
economic and social development goals to meet climate change
commitments, it is equally important to recognize that developing
nations must join in this global effort by taking on responsibilities
to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
Indian efforts in the area of climate change will be critical.
India is a leader in the community of developing countries, and
the decisions it takes will have reprecussions well beyond its
borders.
India's rapid industrialization has the potential to greatly
increase greenhouse gas emissions. Economic liberalization and
industrial growth rates of ten percent are great achievements; at
the same time, they mean that India is also the second fastest
growing contributor of these emissions. During the next fifteen
years, it is expected that India's industrial capacity will
quadruple.
The leadership India has already shown in slowing climate
change could be a model for the developing world. Your
reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is tied directly to
increasing the efficiency of your industrial operations. Your
work in reforming the economy and the energy sector over the
last several years has offered a powerful demonstration that by
reducing subsidies, unleashing the private sector and increasing
energy efficiency, economic growth can take place while
improving the environment.
Through further restructuring and reform in the energy
sector, India can not only attract new investment, but it can
reduce emissions and cut the cost of industrial operations through
more efficient fuel use. You have demonstrated that energy
efficiency is a win-win proposition. The consumers win because
of lower energy costs and the environment wins because of lower
emissions.
Through a combination of sound public policy and market
forces, we can effectively address climate change without
sacrificing growth. By increasing energy efficiency and
eliminating subsidies, India can further lessen unnecessary
dependance on fossil fuels, reduce the energy needs of
manufacturing, enhance your balance of trade, reduce urban air
pollution and improve public health. Simultaneously, these
improvements will help attract private trade and investment in
India. Energy technology itself offers a tremendous economic
opportunity: a recent Confederation of Indian Industries study
showed that the market for environmental technologies and new
management systems could be $2 billion by the year 2000. This
market will only grow larger.
Meeting the climate challenge will require that we create a
new set of development tools that advance economic growth while
protecting the natural resource base on which we depend for life
itself. A less carbon-intensive path to development will be
required even without the threat of climate change. Our current
approach to economic growth demands too many depletable
resources and produces too much waste to deliver the full fruits
of development to Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Near East
over the long-term.
USAID has been a partner with India in exploring these new
paths and in demonstrating the "win win" opportunities. For
example, USAID's private power initiative in India has supported
efforts to attract local and foreign investment in private power
generation. Since the program's inception in 1993, over 400
proposals have been submitted by firms to construct private
power plants. Five large power deals have been closed, three
with American partners. These power plants are using state-of-the-art technologies to meet strict environmental guidelines. They
will certainly operate with greater efficiency and produce more
power per ton of fossil fuel than their predecessors.
We have also brought together the Tennessee Valley
Authority, the Electric Power Research Institute and the U.S.
Department of Energy together with the National Thermal Power
Corporation in a program to improve the efficiency of coal fired
power plants and reduce pollution. Already, the National
Thermal Power Corporation has decreased carbon dioxide
emissions by 18,000 tons. If the National Power Corporation was
to replicate these pilot programs nationwide, they would prevent
3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. And for
those of you who think such ideas are abstract, understand this:
such energy efficiency would save $21 million in coal purchases
annually. I had the good fortune to visit your NTPC's central
office yesterday and was very impressed by their commitment to
innovation and efficiency.
Through USAID's Utility Partnership Program, Indian and
American utilities are working together to find new approaches to
increase efficiency and cut demand: the Andhra Pradesh State
Electricity Board is working with Pennsylvania Power & Light,
Calcutta Electric with Gulf Power in Florida and Bombay
Suburban with Niagara Mohawk in New York. I am pleased that
on my visit to Mumbai next week I will be able to announce a
renewed commitment to that program, increasing the funding
available to partnerships between American and Indian utility
operators.
Working with IDBI (The Industrial Development Bank of
India), we are supporting efforts to use alternative fuels, like
sugar cane bagasse, to cut carbon emissions. We are encouraging
a wide range of experiments with renewable energy, like small
hydro plants in Himachal Pradesh and solar power in Karnataka.
We are supporting joint ventures between American and Indian
companies to bring in new technologies and environmental
management systems.
As a measure of America's continuing commitment to
international cooperation on climate change, President Clinton
announced at the United Nations on June 27 that the U.S. would
provide at least $ 1 billion in assistance over the next five years
to help developing nations promote energy efficiency, develop
alternative energy sources and improve resource management. I
am here today to carry this pledge to India and to commit the
support of the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID), to India's efforts to promote sustainable economic
development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
I am happy to be able to announce today that as part of
President Clinton's commitment, USAID will be expanding its
climate change program in India. USAID will complement its
range of efforts on environment and the energy sector with a
series of programs focused on slowing the rate of growth in
emissions that will accompany the expected 50 percent increase in
India's power demand over the next five years.
These programs will include a concerted effort to reduce
emissions from India's urban areas. As the percentage of the
Indian population living in cities grows from 24 percent to 50
percent by 2015, it is our hope that U.S.-Indian collaboration will
decrease the environmental costs of urbanization. And the human
and health costs of fossil fuel combustion in cities is very high.
The World Bank recently estimated that annual health damages
from fossil fuel air pollution in Mumbai alone cost over $1
billion. Imagine what that number would be if we calculated the
health costs on a national basis.
USAID's expanded climate change program in India will
also focus on fostering technology transfer by marshalling the
resources of multilateral and bilateral lenders, and further
enhancing U.S. and Indian private sector trade and investments
that promote environmentally sound development.
Meeting the challenge of global climate change will require
new paths to development and new partnerships -- public-private
partnerships and North-South partnerships. We can imagine a
future in which Indian and American firms, working in
partnership with the public sector, work together in a "greening"
of the international market place, creating jobs and income and
economic opportunities in both of our countries.
I would like to challenge you to consider the possible
benefits to your businesses and your country in joining the effort
to address global climate change -- not as an external political
demand, but as a clear business opportunity and a part of your
corporate responsibility to help keep India safe, secure and
prosperous in the decades ahead.
We owe it to future generations to begin to address the risks
posed by climate change today. Just as cooperation between our
two great nations brought the Green Revolution to the world, our
partnership on climate change can help make the world a better
and more prosperous place for generations to come. So I ask
India to join the United States in a new green revolution, this one
to capture the dynamic spirit of our democratic systems to save
the earth from global warming.
Thank you
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 18, 2001
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