The International Energy Agency (IEA) has claimed in a press release that a consensus was reached at the March 31 IEA-COP26 Net Zero Summit on “accelerating clean energy transitions” is deceptive. While note was taken by some media of the words of warning given there by Indian Minister of Power, New and Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh, watching Singh’s presentation made visible the fury building in Developing Nations against being told they have no right to Develop!

The Indian minister spoke for the continent of Africa, and he did so with such forcefulness that IEA Executive Director Dr Fatih Birol began, politely, but insistently, trying to cut him off halfway through his remarks.

True, Singh calmly reported the great advances India was making in building up the percentage of renewables in its energy mix, and his Government’s agreement that the climate threat was real. However, what followed was outrage that the Developed World, which “has occupied almost 80% of the carbon space already”, now makes “pie in the sky” promises to get to net zero carbon emissions by some decades from now, while demanding Developing Countries cut their carbon emissions.

Here, his tone changed: “Now, in order to give space for others to develop, you have to think of the whole continent of Africa! You have 800 million people in Africa who do not have access to electricity. It’s not about us. We will achieve whatever has to be achieved because we get investments. But it is about those countries… They have to develop! That development will require more steel, in huge quantities; that development will require more cement, in huge quantities. They also want to build skyscrapers. They also want a high standard of living for their people. And you can’t stop it!”

The Indian minister stressed: “You have to give space to those countries, whose present per-capita consumption is less than one-fifth of the world’s consumption, whose present emissions are one-sixth of world emissions. You have to give them space to develop. You need to understand (here, he hit the table for emphasising his point) that if they consume more steel, they will make (emphasis on more steel); if they consume more cement, they will make more cement (emphasis on more cement); if they consume more plastics, they will make (emphasis on more plastics), and all that is made with carbon.”

By then, Birol stepped up with his “thank you, thank you” interruptions. However, Singh insisted on talking over him to make one last point: “’You’ insist that we go for carbon capture and storage, yet are these technologies proven? And they are very expensive!”

India does not intend to sacrifice its own domestic energy supply, either. That same day, India’s Environment Ministry issued an order, extending the compliance deadline for the Indian coal-fired power plants to meet tougher emissions guidelines, by up to two more years. The measure was supported by the Indian Ministry of Power, because the costs of retrofitting emissions scrubbers on existing coal plants are prohibitive.

Boundless Ocean of Politics has received this article from Christopher Lewis of Schiller Institute, Frankfurt, Germany.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das