While there, Secretary Chu also  talks solar energy storage and distribution with India's Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah.  The Indian Government announces they will increase subsidy levels for solar power generation, another sign it is serious about reaching its ambitious target of 20 GW of solar power by 2020.

UNIPCC chair, Dr. Pauchari, says that black carbon cannot yet be definitively linked to melting Himalayan glaciers or climate change .  The next IPCCC report, due out in 2013, will address this issue.  An article in Time days differently, and also notes serious impacts of black carbon on public health in India and elsewhere in the developing world. 

The International Energy Agency releases its annual World Energy Outlook for 2010, and calls $1.25 trillion investments in low-carbon energy in India between now and 2030. 

Nicholas Institute's Eric Roston talks climate politics all over India, and meets people who lives are already impacted by climate change. 

Senator Kerry wants a climate bill passed, in part, so the U.S. doesn't get left in India's dust, and in part, so that India knows the U.S. is serious about lowering emissions.  Senator Baucus argues American manufacturers need protection in climate legislation.

A group in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, ravished by both famine and floods over the summer, is raising awareness among the state's tribal villages about the impacts of climate change.  Oxfam India and other groups are organizing public hearings for marginalized and rural communities to speak out about effects they are already feeling. 

 (Thanks to Michael Thompson for preparing this update.)

Nitin Desai — former UN official and member of Prime Minister Singh's council on climate change — argues for a focus on common ground rather than haggling on concessions.  He believes that COP 15 will result in small agreements on tech, forestry, and assistance.

Indian climate envoy Shyam Saran calls for nations to create a platform for clean tech sharing.   Saran tells participants at an Indian Economic Summit that climate change negotiations are deadlocked.

An article in Newsweek sees India's Prime Minister Singh as positioning India for global leadership through new stance at Copenhagen.  An article in Time says that India's negative image on climate is undeserved.   The US calls for India to assume a leading role on climate.  India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh says the immediate priority is building a consensus at home, rather than abroad.

UNIPCC Chair Dr. Rajendra Pauchari takes issue with Minister Ramesh's claim that glacial melt is not the threat it is portrayed as.   Dr. Pauchari also disagrees with Center for Science and Environment head Sunita Narain, in opposing editorials on the need (or lack of) for a Copenhagen agreement.

Delhi is the first state with a local implementation plan for National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).  The NAPCC includes eight missions (including solar and energy efficiency missions) which form India's plans for mitigation and adaptation.  A new website called Climate Action Tracker gives India overall a "medium" assessment, but as more states iterate their local plans, this rating should go up.  Prime Minister Singh receives a favorable rating from Greenpeace on climate action based on the NAPCC.  To help fulfill India's climate goals, PM Singh called for expanded funding from developed countries.

The EU warns of serious health impacts in India as a result of climate change.

Some in Washington seem to be noticing that India is starting to act on climate change: US climate envoy Todd Stern tells a House of Representatives committee that  "The thing that is really important to understand is that countries like China and India are actually doing a lot. They are not in the world any more of saying we don't have to worry about this problem, there is nothing that we have to do. They are taking a lot of action," he said.  Senator Joseph Lieberman told the National Journal that movement by India and China on climate is a signal that the time has come for American legislation on the same.

Recently we have been writing a lot about the encouraging shift in India's government on climate change, and now it's great to see these expressions of citizen engagement — which is essential to driving real progress on combating climate change.  You can see photos of some of the rallies, walks, bicycle rides, plays, tree plantings, and festivals that are taking place in India on the 350.org photo-stream and the flickr.com India 350 page.

Another sign of movement forward is the pact India and China signed this week to work together over the next five years on climate change.  This new partnership should deter those here in the United States from using inaction by India and China as an excuse for not moving forward with our own climate change legislation. 

Finally, I want to call attention to a recent Op-Ed by  Dr. Rajendra Pauchari, the Chair of the IPCC.  In his piece for Nature magazine, Dr. Pauchari explains why India wants to be a constructive player in Copenhagen.  India wants a good deal, he writes, because it is vulnerable to impacts of climate change (see my colleagues' blogs on this here and here) and "has a direct interest in adaptation measures for coping with projected climate change" that would be part of an international regime.  Dr. Pauchari points out that India has moved forward with an ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change, "that it could, at an appropriate stage of the negotiations, offer as part of a global package of commitments."

"We need a more constructive spirit between developed and developing countries if we are to reach an effective agreement in Copenhagen," he concludes. Today, people in almost every developed and developing country in the world are setting an example for leaders everywhere of how we can - and must - work together to combat climate change.

(Thanks to Michael Thompson for his assistance on this blog entry.)

 The website offers access to updates on environmental clearances for industrial projects, lists of rules and regulations on water and air pollution, and even has a form to file a right- to- information petition.  Minister Ramesh even has a blog.   He explains that "this website is our window to all those who want to look in and see how we work."   "Climate change" is featured on the home page with a link to a list of twenty initiatives India is taking on climate change.   

 I earlier wrote about the significance of Minister Ramesh's announcement of plans to create a new National Environmental Protection Agency ("NEPA") with enforcement power.    Now you can find on the Ministry's website a discussion paper about the proposed agency.    Readers are invited to provide their own views about how best to achieved improved environmental governance there. 

 We are very encouraged by both the tone and content of this new website.  We believe it does reflect a new determination by India to become a leader in addressing the global challenge of climate change.  Hopefully it will become a vehicle for documenting and demonstrating that India is indeed taking action at home.  As we mover towards Copenhagen, we hope that this effort to improve transparency and accountability be a model for other nations around the world.

(Thanks to Michael Thompson for his contribution to this blog entry.)

Recently the international scientific community has reached a consensus that greenhouse gases are warming the planet faster than ever before. Many ecosystems and species are very sensitive to changes in temperatures. Scientists already see that climate change is accelerating the rate of extinction, as species so uniquely attuned to their own environmental conditions cannot adapt rapidly enough to their altered ones.

The warmer temperatures will affect every ecosystem on the planet, whether it flourishes in the depths of the ocean, the dense mountain forests, or a wandering prairie stream. All life will be impacted. Due to increasing temperatures, storm systems will intensify and weather patterns will change, providing for increased pest populations, water stress and the spread of diseases. Warmer, drier conditions and invasive species will undermine the very base of the ecological pyramid: the microorganisms and insects. This often invisible weakening of the food chain jeopardizes the survival of the keystone species we all know and cherish, such as the bear and the jaguar.

The oceans will be no less affected; the seas are already becoming less hospitable as they absorb higher amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This process, called ocean acidification, distresses marine species that need specific molecules found in the water to build their shells-animals like plankton and coral. Take a look at NRDC's recent film on the subject — "Acid Test". As more carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean and the water grows more acidic, less of these crucial molecules are available and the tiny animals are unable to build strong protective shells. Without these species, the rest of the food web — up to the gray whale and vaquita — is in danger.

While the prospect of climate change in the future remains uncertain, what is clear is that our planet is already experiencing warming conditions. In recent years, researchers have documented the plight of polar bears, which are starving from diminished food sources and from the lack of sea ice, from which they attack their prey. Scientists have also researched the impact of climate change on tropical forest species, such as the Quetzal in Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest, which is now threatened by new predators forced into the high altitude forest by the warming temperatures below.

We have surveyed these scientific findings and reports about the climate impacts on a range of natural environments and regions. Over the coming days, we will share with you the identified likely and possible effects of climate change on each of NRDC's BioGems. (Thanks to Antonia Sohns of Stanford University and to Amanda Maxwell and my other BioGems colleagues who helped to pull this series together.)

NRDC has made constraining climate change our highest priority. We are working at every level to push for solutions which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move us to a greener, more sustainable economy. We hope that all of our BioGem Defenders will join in this fight.

One way you can help save all of our BioGems at once is to join us and 350.org in participating in a global day of action on October 24th, 2009. We are inviting all of our members, e-activists and concerned citizens worldwide to take a photograph incorporating the number 350 in a special place and then upload it to the 350.org website before this Day of Action. Why 350? Some of the world's leading scientists have agreed that 350 parts per million is the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that still allows us to moderate climate change. We also urge you to join one of the hundreds of actions around the globe taking place on October 24th. Even if you can't make it to one of our BioGems for a photograph or on the day of action, you can organize or join an action in a special place in your own community. Visit 350.org to explore the actions that are already planned, or to register your own. Please, join this unified call to demand strong climate commitments from global leaders when they meet in Copenhagen in December. Act Now. And act on October 24th. Our BioGems — and we — are running out of time.

Become an NRDC BioGems Defender

Today is Blog Action Day, the largest single social action event on the web; more than 6,900 bloggers have signed up to write about global warming.  NRDC is a partner of today's online event.

India recently announced it would quantify the emissions cuts it will make under its ambitious National Action Plan on Climate Change (see my colleague Anjali Jaiswal's blog.).  Last Friday, India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh explained in a talk at Columbia University that: "I am telling the world, because climate change is important for me... I am prepared to take on, voluntarily, unilaterally, mitigation actions as part of a domestic legislative agenda."      

Minister Ramesh made another less noticed, but equally important declaration last week.  He made public plans to create a National Environmental Protection Authority, which would be like the U.S. EPA.  The new authority would provide India for the first time the institutional capacity to set and enforce standards and regulations throughout the country.  This is an important component in making sure that the emissions reductions India wants to make are in fact achieved and reported.

We are also encouraged by India's apparent new optimism about reaching an agreement at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December.  Minister Ramesh last night said that, "There are building blocks of an agreement in Copenhagen on which there is already substantial international consensus."   There is growing acceptance of the notion of moving beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to treaty-making to recognize nationally appropriate actions, as evident at last week's meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate.   As special envoy Stern testified recently before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, rather than a narrow focus on caps, commitments to nationally appropriate actions are part of what the US wants from rapidly growing developing countries like India.

There is now greater opportunity then ever for Indo-US cooperation on the climate change.  However, there are still many in India who would prefer the previous, more confrontational finger-pointing approach.  Reflective of this view are recent articles in the Economic Times and Daily India reporting on Ramesh's Columbia talk.  Both articles chose to portray Ramesh's remarks as pessimistic when in fact he appeared rather upbeat in his assessment of the potential for collaboration and progress. 

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama will be together in Pittsburgh this week at the G20 meetings and then in Washington, DC in late November.   Let's hope that they use these opportunities to agree upon a shared course of action to reach an agreement, as the President said at the UN today, not simply to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but one instead to allow "all nations to grow and raise living standards without endangering the planet."

(The author thanks Michael Thompson for his assistance in preparing this post.)

Clearly posturing for a domestic audience, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh merely stated India's long-held, often-repeated view that it would not now accept a national cap on its greenhouse gas emissions in a post-Kyoto climate agreement.  This is not news nor was the United States asking the Indian Government to agree to such a cap.  Secretary Clinton plainly acknowledged the legitimacy of India's underlying concern, saying "no one wants to, in any way, stall or undermine economic growth that is necessary to lift millions more people out of poverty." 

It was not reported that Ramesh went on to acknowledge that though his country's focus would be on adapting to climate change, the government recognized the need to address its own emissions.  The Indian Government in fact put forward a number of specific proposals.  Ramesh proposed the creation of an Indo-U.S. Foundation for Climate Change Technology to focus on transformative technologies that can drive sustainable development.

He suggested collaborations in areas like solar and biomass energy and efficient electrical transmission.  Ramesh also suggested opportunities for cooperation in environmental planning and regulation, particularly important in light of plans for a new "independent, professional, science-based national environmental protection authority" in India.  Finally, the environment minister asked that India and the U.S. to continue to work together to research climate change and its impacts. 

The media turned what was really a spot of sunshine - with admittedly a bit of a drizzle in Delhi - into a monsoonal crisis with its talk of a "U.S.- India Split on Emissions" (The New York Times), a "Clash Over Emissions Reduction Pact" (Washington Post), and "India tells Clinton: No carbon cuts" (Washington Times).  The problem with the coverage is that it feeds those in the United States who are using China and India's growth as an excuse to prevent progress on reducing emissions and creating clean energy jobs here in the United States.

At the conclusion of her visit to India, Secretary Clinton was joined by India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in a statement "committing to building an enhanced India- U.S. strategic partnership that seeks to advance solutions to the defining challenges of our time."  In the statement, the leaders agreed to intensify collaboration on energy security and climate change - seeking to accelerate the development and penetration of clean energy technologies through the India-U.S. Energy Dialogue, a Global Climate Change Dialogue, and bilateral scientific and technological collaboration.  There will be more opportunities for top U.S. and Indian leaders to make progress on climate change in the months ahead, including when Prime Minister Singh comes to Washington on November 24th for the first state visit of the Obama Presidency.  

The immediate challenge for the Secretary - and her climate envoy Todd Stern - is to better explain to Congress and to the media the progress that is actually occurring in India and other key developing countries on changing emissions pathways, and what the US is seeking to do to build on that forward movement.

 (Co-authored with Seth Sliverman, MAP Fellow)

What new collaborations could result from this new relationship and Secretary Clinton's planned trip to India next month?

 Well, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) funds a Solar America Cities program, through which twenty-five American cities are working to make solar a viable option. And India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently launched its own initiative, which aims for at least sixty Indian solar cities by 2012. Connecting American cities with Indian solar sister cities is an exciting development that was discussed at an April meeting of the US-India Energy Dialogue in New Delhi. In March, the U.S. Department of Commerce led a solar trade mission to India. All of this bodes well for India's plans to become a solar leader.

 At an April meeting in New Delhi, DoE also discussed cooperating with  the Indian Ministry of Urban Development on a model Zero Energy Community - green buildings should be a key element.

 Right now we are thinking about other areas where the U.S. and India should be cooperating on climate and clean energy.  We would welcome your ideas.

 If realized, a true partnership between the U.S. and India could provide a model and impetus for a global deal in Copenhagen this December.

 U.S.-India 3.0, the climate talks are ready and waiting for you!

 Co-authored by Bidisha Banerjee.