Fallout of Obama's visit to India

Wider participation in climate deal

If you thought India signed the climate deal with the United States during US President Barack Obama's just concluded visit to New Delhi because it was under pressure to do so following the US-China climate deal in November, you would be wrong for two reasons. There is nothing binding in the India-US climate deal. And none of the points in the 10-point fact sheet issued by the White House on the deal talks about emission cuts or eco-friendly measures to be taken by India.

Perhaps India cannot be expected to accept any binding measure in a climate deal at this stage of its economic development and the level of poverty in the country. Obama and Modi announced on Jan 25 that the two countries would only work together to fight global climate change, and hope to "expand policy dialogues and technical work on clean energy and low greenhouse gas emissions technologies".

The India-US climate deal is different from the China-US pact primarily because the latter talks about specifics: the US will cut emissions by 26-28 percent from the 2005 levels by 2025, and China will ensure that its emissions peak by 2030 and non-fossil energy accounts for at least 20 percent of its energy mix.

The media hype over the India-US climate deal is possibly because they want to portray Obama as the man who made the two largest developing countries sign climate deals (binding or not) and paved the way for a possible global climate pact in Paris at the end of this year.

But irrespective of what Obama's or Modi's intentions are for signing the deal, the point is that the fight against climate change is not for personal glory or the benefit of just one country. More importantly, it is the responsibility of all countries, especially the developed ones, to prevent the climate from running wild and pushing the planet toward doom.

OP Rana is a senior writer with China Daily.