Dear Friends,

I am pleased to share with you that we are hosting a High Level Conference and Exposition on Climate Change Technology Development and Transfer in New Delhi on October 22-23, 2009. This event, being hosted by the Government of India and the UNDESA, is an important milestone on the road to the UN Climate Change Summit (COP-15) to be held in Copenhagen in December this year. You can find more details on the conference website: www.newdelhicctechconference.com.

Technology has a fundamental role in addressing the issue of climate change. There is an urgent need to accelerate the large scale global deployment of environmentally sound and climate friendly technologies and to minimize the time lag between their initial development and final adoption, particularly in developing countries. This will require innovation - we will need to look at new approaches to technology development, dissemination and diffusion, and to address the issues of IPR. There is an urgent need for a concerted and coordinated global response on this front. The global mechanism for technology cooperation and transfer should draw lessons from the experiences of successful examples of partnerships in the past, such as the CGIAR-system or the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. We could consider, for example, the establishment of a network of centres to enable the rapid development of climate mitigation and adaptation technologies. The network could bring together the efforts of governments, industry and research communities across the world in order to accelerate the pace of innovation and cost reduction. On IPR, we need a mechanism that protects the legitimate interests of technology innovators, while allowing for accelerated development and deployment of environmentally-sound technologies, particularly in the developing countries. We could, therefore, consider the establishment of a global fund to compensate technology holders for their intellectual property and facilitate adequate funding for their acquisition.

The good news is that technology development and transfer is an area where there already is a fair degree of agreement among nations. We need to build on these foundations. I personally believe that an early agreement on technology development and transfer can help in building of trust among nations, which will help us reach a broader comprehensive global agreement on climate change.

India is particularly keen that an agreement on technology is reached, and is hosting this exposition and conference with the aim to facilitate progress on this agenda, both at a government to government level, and also at the business and industry level. Here I must note that there are several climate-friendly technology areas where I believe India can take a leadership role. In the energy sector, our focus is on making technology leaps to ensure lower emissions. Our biggest power utility NTPC, has one of the lowest carbon dioxide intensity in the world-that is, emissions per megawatt of power generated. We are world leaders in fast breeder reactor technology. We are establishing a 182 Mw commercial power plant based on indigenously developed IGCC technology. We have launched a major initiative on extracting carbon dioxide from flue gases for propagating algae in bioreactors. These are areas where India can lead, and provide expertise to the world. We are committed to doing so.

I encourage you to follow the proceedings of the conference and write to me with your thoughts and ideas.

Jairam Ramesh

16-10-2009

Dear All,

It gives me immense pleasure to welcome you to what I hope is the first of many pieces from me to you during my time at the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

This blog is one of the many features you will find introduced on our brand new website. I would like to start by giving credit to all the people, including our colleagues at CSE and NIC, who made this happen. We have an extremely talented and dedicated web team that worked tirelessly through holidays and weekends to breathe new life into the website. They went back to the drawing board, broke the website down to its basic nuts and bolts and did whatever it took to give the website a truly world-class design in terms of look, feel and function.

While an overhaul had been long overdue, the reasons for this revamp extend beyond merely enhancing the aesthetic appeal and providing a user-friendly navigation experience. We have prided ourselves on the fact that the Ministry of Environment and Forests is moving rapidly towards becoming a highly accountable and transparent ministry. This is yet another step in that direction, an attempt to give the world and our own citizens a clearer picture of our functions and activities. In other words this website is our window to all those who want to look in and see how we work.

Also in the days leading up to Copenhagen the world is looking at India to see it articulate its position and opinions on climate change. This is not a statement of opinion but of fact, validated when we found during the initial stages of development that a very significant amount of traffic to our website was from other countries. To this end you will find that we have dedicated a section on 'India and Climate Change' on our home page that particularly highlights this issue.

Another noteworthy event on the horizon that I would urge you to check out is the Delhi High-Level Conference on Climate Change Technology Development and Transfer that India is hosting in October together with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. This is a significant milestone on the road to Copenhagen, where we consider technology as a key pillar.

Another topic of interest that we are in the midst of debating is one that relates to the creation of a National Environment Protection Authority. This shall be a landmark step in the direction of creating a technical and scientific body to deal with the entire gamut of issues related to environmental management. Among other tasks, this body shall also undertake the twin functions of granting environmental clearances and of monitoring compliance with the same. A discussion paper has been put on the home page. I would invite you to have a look at the same and submit your feedback to us.

I will end with a quote by Alan Kay: "The best way to predict the future, is to invent it". Consider these our first steps towards inventing that future.

Until next time...

29-09-2009