India will launch a national programme on black carbon on December 15. Environment minister Jairam Ramesh said the programme will cover measurement, monitoring and modelling for black carbon but ruled out India agreeing to inclusion of black carbon into the framework of UN climate talks.
“Our position on the issue is clear. We are starting the programme on black carbon as it is a health issue more than environment issue for us,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
The Indian black carbon project will be a joint venture of Indian and foreign scientists and it will recommend measures to reduce black carbon emissions, whose primary source is kerosene stoves.
India has also thwarted the move of the US and European Union to move hydroflourocarbons (HFCs) out of Kyoto Protocol and into the Montreal Protocol, which governs ozone depleting substances.
HFC, a climate change causing gas, is a byproduct of ozone depleting substance. The move would have hit five Indian companies, who own half the world’s carbon credits earned by reducing HFC emissions, and have earned over $300 million. “HFC is a greenhouse gas and it should remain so,” Ramesh said after meeting US and European negotiators.
An Indian official said the US was presented with a set of 32 questions against the move, which they failed to reply to.
