The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has urged stringent enforcement of regulations as well as an end to subsidising energy to control climate change.

No progress

Addressing 500-odd members that comprised government executives and the private industry at the CII Partnership Summit, Ahluwalia pointed out that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UFCC has not taken an ‘inch’ forward to control climate change related issues as a result of rampant carbon emissions.

“It is not about whether developed economies have to work on reducing or developing economies have to be given some leeway regarding carbon emissions but about how to grow sustainably in the future,” he said.

The issue of carbon emissions has been widely debated as developing economies have pointed out that as they are in the growth phase, some amount of flexibility has to be given to the industry within the overall carbon emissions framework. Ahluwalia was scathing towards the corporate sector, sayingstringent targets have to be imposed on companies regardless of their location.

He said it was “wishful thinking “ to expect companies to adhere to issues regarding sustainability. The target of 2 per cent increase in temperature in pre-industrial era is not acceptable anymore, Ahluwalia said.

Specific target

The solution, according to him, would be to have a target set to a specific number in comparison to the GDP of a country and overall target of reduction should be in the range of 20-25 per cent by 2020.

On the issue of political will with regard to removing energy subsidies, he said that it is tough as scrapping subsidies drives electricity and gas prices upwards but it needs to be looked at for a sustainable future.

Sayyad Abd-Al-Cader Sayed Hossen, Industry Minister of Mauritius, said private companies are the engine of growth and balancing their growth with sustainability is a tough balancing act.

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