By IANS,
New Delhi: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was Wednesday nominated as the ‘Paryavaran Ambassador’ of India, has said the country’s development should be kept in mind while negotiating the cut in the green house gas emission intensity.
“We are a billion people and we have our dreams. Our development has to be protected,” Kalam said at a function attended by Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh.
“We want to become a developed economy by 2020. Till the time we have enough solar, wind and nuclear energy, we will use fossil fuel. I think climate change policy needs to be integrated with energy policy,” the former president said.
He added: “China is the number one emission fellow and the US is number two.” While the per capita green house gas emission in the US is 20 tonnes, it is around two tonnes in India.
Speaking on the occasion, Ramesh said that both economic and ecological growth need to be “well balanced”.
“We cannot say only no or only yes. Unfortunately, there is a political polarization along these lines,” the minister said, a day before leaving for the Copenhagen climate summit Thursday.
The central government has unilaterally announced in would cut green house gas emission intensity by 20-25 percent.