PM Modi demonstrates India’s leadership at green talks

In his 166-word tribute in Time magazine, US President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “India’s reformer-in-chief” who had “laid out an ambitious vision to ...unleash India’s true economic potential while confronting climate change”.

Modi thanked Obama through a tweet. The Indian establishment, however, went beyond mere gratitude. On the same day it submitted a 11-page formal proposal to the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi and seized the leadership in the global negotiations that involved cross-cutting themes on climate change and ozone layer protection. Interestingly it was mainly because of India that parleys on climate change were all but stalled for the last six years.

India’s proposal will be discussed at the extraordinary meeting of 197 countries in Bangkok next week. A second meeting will be held in late July in Paris. The final meeting of the parties will be held in United Arab Emirates during the first week of November - before the climate change meet in Paris. 

India’s proposal is based on common but differentiated responsibility. It proposes that developed countries should go faster to phase down the use of HFCs. Developing countries, meanwhile, can go slower. The proposal also  states the need for  financial and technology transfer assistance to developing countries.

It is a dramatic strategic proposal to phase-down production and consumption of hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs). These are greenhouse gases (GHGs) that have up to 12,000 times more global warming potential (GWP) than carbon dioxide - the most talked about GHG. HFCs are part of six GHGs included in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, whose emissions are to be reduced. HFCs are primarily used as refrigerants, for example in car air conditioning and refrigerators, and in insulating foams. 

The story of the emergence of HFCs is rather stunning. The most successful international environmental agreement so far - the Montreal Protocol - aimed to protect the Ozone layer by eliminating ozone-depleting gases like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). HFCs, along with other gases were developed by the industry to replace CFCs. HFCs are ozone friendly - but not climate friendly. 

Eliminating CFCs and using HFCs was like going from the frying pan to slow fire. The movement against HFCs started gathering momentum after 2010, but they continued to be the fastest growing set of greenhouse gases in most parts of the world, increasing at 10-15 percent per year, particularly in the developing countries and slower in developed economies, which were reeling under financial crisis. 

When the Montreal Protocol was celebrating its success in 2010, ozone layer recovery was considered to be at the cost of global warming. Surprisingly, India refused to even discuss the amendment of reduction of HFCs, proposed by Micronesia, the US, Canada and Mexico. At the global negotiations, India stalled any discussions on the issue, stating that it has just phased out CFCs by employing HFCs in most of the applications and hence, was not ready for yet another transition so soon. India argued that effective, affordable and safe alternatives to HFCs did not exist. It also resorted to legal and procedural conundrums by wondering if controls on HFCs are the mandate of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and not Montreal Protocol on ozone layer protection. 

India’s political leaders, since 2010, continued to please international communities, particularly in G-20 meetings and in summits with Obama, by agreeing to take action against HFCs. In international negotiations, however, the country played a different tune to fudge the debate. 

Come Modi, and a transformative and forward-looking stance is evident. The pros and cons of HFC reduction were assessed and reforms in the approach were found to be inevitable. It was realised that reduction in HFCs would provide the fastest and the most desirable process of climate mitigation in the near-term. It will also build critical momentum for a successful outcome in Paris for the challenging climate negotiations in December. 

Proposing a HFC phase-down under the well-established institution of the Montreal Protocol would present the obvious advantage of financial assistance, transfer of the latest technology and incentives for developing countries as realised under the CFC phase out. Early phase-down and selecting better energy-efficient technology was considered to be a part of Modi’s priority of inclusive development.

As per researchers, the HFC phase-down can provide mitigation equivalent to 100 giga tonnes of CO2 by 2050 and avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of century. As the atmospheric lifetime of HFCs is only 10-15 years as against 100 years in case of CO2, the phase-down of HFCs could lead to early benefits. 

In other words, the adverse impact of climate change could be pushed back by 10-15 years. A simultaneous effort to embrace super-efficient appliances in India, including room air conditioners, can effectively double the climate mitigation from phasing down HFCs, as per a report by Indian researchers at California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Their analysis showed that moving to super-efficient room air conditioners could save for India enough electricity to avoid building up to 120 medium-sized power plants in the next 15 years. 

Modi is clearly changing the ambience of climate-change negotiations that will be held in Paris at the end of this year.