Climate change has been denied, labelled as a myth and a political manoeuvre or synergised with individual weather events.
While there has been a marked turnaround in the stand of climate deniers and sceptics, it has definitely been used as a political tool by the U.S. to bring pressure upon fast developing nations. In the wake of the Copenhagen fiasco of December 2009, it remains to be seen how much the U.S. Policy makers can succeed in their delaying tactics. Obama has got into the habit of clinging to the arm of one mse or the other, the latest being the BP oil spill. On the national climate front, there is plenty of ongoing drama with many States even failing to come up with an appropriate State Action Plan on Climate Change despite repeated extensions by the centre. At the same time, one sees States like Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh pursuing a pro-active Climate Policy of their own, notwithstanding the Centre's lackadaisical attitude.
Let us wait and watch how 2010 unfolds vis-à-vis climate change policy making and implementation, both in India and the US, the principle emitter. The poser put forth by Climate Revolution that reveals lack of strategy on the part of Indian Government to push the West on climate is actually not much of a shocker. Anyone who has followed the events closely the past two years would know that each time India has taken an aggressive stance, it has been met with a backlash or 'ostrich' attitude on the part of the West.
The ground reality is that, till the U.S. Government can get around the strong oil and energy lobbyists, there can be no meaningful climate and energy policy in the West. Yet, the Britsh Government with its UKCIP initiative has jogged miles ahead with its climate mitigation strategies. What is then stopping India from pursuing its own climate and energy policy at hard-liner levels independent of what the West is up to?
For the entire post, read Climate Policy watch is now habit forming.