VZCZCXRO8553
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHCN RUEHDBU RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHLH RUEHLN
RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHVC
DE RUEHNE #3668/01 2250922
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130922Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7485
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 003668 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAID KGHG ECON TSPL TRGY EFIN BEXP IN
SUBJECT: LIEBERMAN ENGAGES INDIA ON CLIMATE CHANGE 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee 
Senator Joseph Lieberman met on August 10 in New Delhi with 
Dr. Leena Srivastava, Deputy Director, Ambassador 
Chandrashekher Dasgupta, Distinguished Fellow, Dr. Prodipto 
Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, and other senior staff of The 
Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an international 
energy and environment research organization headquartered in 
New Delhi, to exchange views on global climate change issues 
and the outlook for joint U.S.-Indian cooperation in clean 
energy technology to reduce carbon emissions.  The 
discussions were cordial and productive, and covered a number 
of pertinent topics of interest to the two countries, 
including: the political backdrop to climate change 
initiatives in the U.S. and India, an overview of India,s 
specific climate change challenges and its energy policy 
relative to those, and the desirability of U.S.-India 
cooperation on carbon emission reduction.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Senator Lieberman opened by affirming that climate 
change is a &real concern and priority8 on his agenda.  He 
voiced his conviction that the U.S. should take 
responsibility for reducing carbon emissions, and expressed 
his desire for joint U.S.-India cooperation in sharing clean 
energy technology.  Ambassador Dasgupta responded that there 
is tremendous scope for Indo-U.S. climate change cooperation, 
and cited the &major contribution8 that the U.S.-India 
civilian nuclear agreement would make to climate change 
mitigation.  He asked the Senator what contributions the U.S. 
would be willing to make in a post-Kyoto agreement.  Senator 
Lieberman stated that there is now both scientific and 
popular consensus on the reality of climate change, as well 
as widespread recognition in the U.S. that it is both an 
environmental and national security issue.  He related that 
there is a growing bipartisan consensus on the need for 
carbon emission caps, and that Congress is seeking to pass 
new climate change legislation addressing this requirement. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The discussion then turned to India,s climate 
change issues and its response to them.  Dr. Ghosh described 
growing indications of climate change impacts on India such 
as receding Himalayan glaciers and extreme weather events. 
He noted India,s increasing vulnerability to weather-induced 
calamities, and that India is now spending an amount 
equivalent to over two percent of its GDP on disaster 
response.  He stated that notwithstanding a lot of &finger 
pointing8 over India,s growing greenhouse gas (GHG) 
emissions, India is responsible and proactive regarding GHG 
emission reduction.  He cited active programs in renewable 
energy and energy conservation, as well as other initiatives. 
  (NOTE:  Dr. Ghosh recently retired as the Government of 
India,s (GOI) Secretary of Environment and Forests, in which 
capacity he served as the GOI,s chief climate change 
negotiator. END NOTE) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Dr. Kalipada Chatterjee, Senior Climate Change 
Advisor, Winrock International India, noted that developing 
countries, needs with respect to climate change impacts are 
different from those of the industrialized world.  He stated 
that India should focus more on adaptation than mitigation, 
and adopt strategies that address poverty eradication and 
promote sustainable development.  He acknowledged that 
technology transfer is important, but that India needs to 
improve its &technological base8 in order to adopt new 
technologies, and that India needs assistance in this regard. 
 Pradeep Dadhich, TERI Fellow, highlighted India,s heavy 
dependence on coal, and the need to adopt clean, coal-powered 
generation technologies such as supercritical boilers and 
integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC).  He 
acknowledged strong U.S. expertise in these technologies and 
stated that the U.S. could facilitate the transfer of such 
technologies to India. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In response to a question from Senator Lieberman 
regarding the state of public opinion in India regarding 
climate change, Dr. Srivastava responded that while there is 
a &very rapid change in consciousness,8 it has not yet 
become a significant political issue.  Dr. Ghosh added that 
the large number of questions in parliament on climate change 
indicates strong interest, but thus far in the political 
arena climate change is mainly employed &as a stick (by the 
opposition) with which to beat the Government.8 
 
¶6.  (U) This cable was cleared by Senator Lieberman. 
 
¶7.  (U) USG participants: 
--  Senator Joseph Lieberman, Chairman, Senate Armed Services 
Committee 
--  Vance Serchuk, Foreign Policy Aide 
--  Fred Downey, Defense Policy Aide 
--  Captain Steve Vahsen, USN 
 
NEW DELHI 00003668  002 OF 002 
 
 
--  George Deikun, USAID/India Mission Director 
--  Satish Kulkarni, Science Counselor, U.S. Embassy 
--  Douglas Johnston, Political, U.S. Embassy 
--  Priya Ghose, Science FSN, U.S. Embassy 
--  Glenn Whaley, USAID/India (note taker) 
 
The Energy and Resources Institute: 
--  Dr. Leena Srivastava, Deputy Director, TERI 
--  Ambassador Chandrashekher Dasgupta, Distinguished Fellow, 
TERI 
--  Dr. Prodipto Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, TERI 
--  Sanjay Vashisht, Fellow, TERI 
--  Dr. Ritu Mathur, Fellow, TERI 
--  Dr. Pradeep Dadhich, Fellow, TERI 
 
Winrock International India: 
-- Dr. Kalipada Chatterjee, Senior Climate Change Advisor, WII 
 
WHITE