RK Singh says per capita emission must be point of comparison for nations

New Delhi: Union Power Minister R K Singh on Friday said it is time to alter the climate change narrative and the per capita emissions must be made the point of comparison for countries.

"India's per capita emissions are one-third of the global average, which is one of the lowest in the world.

"Despite that, the developed countries until recently had been putting pressure on large countries like India, to reduce emissions," Singh said at an event here, according to an official statement.

"Their (developed countries) per capita emissions remained 3-4 times of the global average. However, the narrative was on total emissions of each country," he said.

The Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister also noted that the narrative should not be about total emissions.

"If we talk about total emissions, the country with minimum emissions could be an island nation with a small population, even though they may be consuming huge amounts of energy and emitting huge quantities of carbon dioxide per person.

"Hence, the point of comparison has to be per capita emissions. This is the change in discourse that is needed," he said.

Singh said developed countries have reached their peak of development and so, their emissions will either remain static or come down.

"However, the building stock of developing countries will multiply, since we are developing... we will need more cement, steel and aluminium to construct those buildings and plants.

"This will lead to more emissions. So, we need space to grow. This point needs to be made by the think-tanks," he said.

India is responsible for only 4 percent of legacy carbon dioxide load, whereas the country's population is around 17 percent of the world, he noted.