US Cannot Challenge India on Climate Goals: Pachauri
Top environmentalist RK Pachauri has dismissed America’s claims that it can challenge India’s domestic climate actions, clarifying that there was no power granted to the US in the Copenhagen accord for such interference.
Pachauri, the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made the above remarks while reacting to a statement given by White House senior advisor David Axelrod that the climate accord allows the US to not only unilaterally review India’s progress but also challenge the country if it failed to meet its domestic climate targets.
Rejecting the observation as an attempt of the Obama administration to win domestic favour, Pachauri categorically stated that there is no provision in the accord for such interference.
“What they (Obama aides) are trying is essentially to convince the Senators that they would be able to pressure China and India on climate actions.
“I think they want to project that only because they want to get passage of the bill (Cap and Trade Bill related to carbon emission) that has been introduced in the Senate. Apart from that, I don’t think we should read much between the lines,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
The environmentalist also negated that there was pressure on India, saying that the country would have been otherwise accepting monitoring, reporting and verification which is what the US wanted to start with (at the Copenhagen Summit).
