Greenhouse Gases Down By 110 Million Tons In India, Says Report

November 18, 2002

NEW DELHI - India has significantly reduced the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade, as a result of programs designed to strengthen its economy, enhance energy security, and protect local environments, a new report by the U.S.-based Pew Center for Global Climate Change says.

In the India section of the report, released during the COP-8 summit in New Delhi earlier this month, Indian researcher P.R. Shukla reports that 110 million tons of CO2 has been mitigated in India through a variety of policies and measures, including economic restructuring, enforcement of existing clean air laws by the Indian Supreme Court, and renewable energy programs.

The U.S. government's $150 million bilateral energy and environment program has resulted in more than 10% of the total CO2 avoided since 1996. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has worked in partnership with a broad range of Indian institutions to demonstrate that sustainable economic growth is possible while reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the use of clean technologies and best environmental practices. USAID/India's climate change program is the Agency's largest.

The report, entitled "Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey," documents that developing country mitigation programs (including bilateral cooperation activities) reduced the growth of these countries' combined greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 300 million tons a year. If not for these efforts, the report concluded, emissions in the six countries could be about 19 percent higher than they are today.

NOTE FOR EDITORS: Details of these efforts are highlighted in a new compendium, "U.S.-India Cooperation on Global Climate Change" available from USAID (compendium.pdf)