December
6, 2007 Nuclear Energy Key to
India's Role
in Climate Change: US By Arun Kumar
Washington
As the world discusses a new agreement to fight global warming, the
US says nuclear energy will be a "key piece of the equation" for the
future of India's contribution to adjusting climate change.
"There is no question that nuclear power has to be part of the
solution," a key advisor of President George Bush told reporters
Wednesday at a White House briefing on the UN conference on climate
change underway at Bali, Indonesia.
This was so because "it is the only energy source right now that can
produce base-load affordably to millions of people in urban areas
without any emissions," said James Connaughton, chairman of US
Environmental Quality when asked how the US-India civil nuclear deal
will help.
"So if you want the biggest savings in CO2, for the best delivery of
electricity that's most reliable, nuclear power is all we have right
now. Renewables are important; efficiency is very important; but
they do not provide base-load power.
"And so, the work with India, for the future of India's energy
security, the future of India's air pollution, air quality, and the
future of India's contribution to adjusting climate change, nuclear
has got to be a key piece of the equation," he said.
Describing China as "critical", Connaughton said, "China's emissions
probably already exceed those of the United States. If not, they
will soon. And there's no question that by 2020, they will vastly
exceed the United States."
"Countries such as India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, heavy fossil
fuel-using countries, they need to be part of the equation, too," he
said noting, "within the coming decades, most of the growth in
greenhouse gases is going to come from the big developing
countries."
"We have historic responsibility to take care of what we are now
doing. But if we want to truly effect the long-term temperature
trend, we can't afford for the major developing countries to wait.
So we need strategies."
The Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate
launched by Bush was the first multilateral group that included
India and China, and the newly OECD economy of South Korea, in a
shared agenda on sectoral efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in the
major energy sectors, he said.
That has been the catalyst for the major economies process initiated
by Bush, Connaughton said outlining the US stand on the issue in the
context of Bali meetings to work out a new UN Franework Convention
on Climate Change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Washington was hoping to convene another meeting of the major
economies, including India and China after the conclusion of Bali
meetings as Bush considers energy security and climate change as
"two of the greatest challenges of our time," he said.
Asked to comment on Senator John Warner's remark that "China and
India will simply hide behind America's skirts of inaction," if the
US didn't take the lead, Connaughton said, the US "is already
leading in a substantial way."
It had undertaken a wide range of programmes that equal or exceed
much of what's being done in the rest of the world, he said.
"There's a very strong commitment here," added Under Secretary of
State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky with the US
contributing over the last five to six years some $37 billion to the
process.
Noting that many of the developing countries like India and China
have particularly talked about access to energy and growing their
economies, she said, "These initiatives and these monies have been
devoted particularly not only to science research, but to the
development of technologies, which is key."
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