VZCZCXRO7912
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHDBU RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHNEH
RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHSL RUEHTM RUEHTRO
DE RUEHCI #0255/01 2601138
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171138Z SEP 09
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2461
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDC/NOAA WASHDC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 3050

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000255 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES AND SCA/INSB 
STATE FOR SECC TODD STERN 
DEPT OF ENERGY FOR TCUTLER, MGINZBERG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ENRG ECON IN
SUBJECT: CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABLE KOLKATA LOOKS TO INDIAN AND US 
GOVERNMENTS FOR LEADERSHIP 
 
KOLKATA 00000255  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The eastern Indian city of Kolkata is one of the 
world's most vulnerable cities due to coastal flooding and the 
effects of climate change.  While the West Bengal state 
government has set up a state-level Climate Committee and 
secretariat to formulate and implement adaptation strategies, 
the committee has yet to influence state policy.  Large 
manufacturers are incorporating low carbon strategies in their 
business plans, but smaller manufacturers have not yet been 
convinced of the business case for energy efficiency and a low 
carbon future.  Indian interlocutors across the board agree with 
the GOI's position that the GOI should not commit to legally 
binding emission cuts at the upcoming climate negotiations in 
Copenhagen in December 2009 since India's carbon emissions are 
already much lower per capita than in developed countries.  At 
the same time, they do however recognize that India should make 
voluntary efforts to embark on a sustainable low carbon growth 
path.  They appreciate renewed U.S. focus and look towards U.S. 
leadership in providing funding and technology for the 
developing world to address the global challenges of climate 
change. 
 
Impacts of Climate Change to Hit Coastal Kolkata Hard 
 
¶2. (U) Kolkata, the capital of the East Indian state of West 
Bengal, is located five meters above sea level in the Ganges 
delta on the banks of the river Hooghly.  Greater Kolkata's 14 
million inhabitants are highly vulnerable to coastal flooding 
due to rising sea levels and more intensive precipitation as a 
result of climate change.  A 2007 OECD report analyzing the 
impact of coastal flooding in port cities worldwide ranked 
Kolkata sixth among the ten most vulnerable cities in the world. 
 The report predicts that by 2070, Kolkata will displace Mumbai 
as the city with the highest population in the world exposed to 
coastal flooding. 
 
State Government Focused on Adaptation 
 
¶3. (U) The West Bengal state government's Chief Environment 
Officer Debal Ray told EconFSN that the state government 
recognizes Kolkata and West Bengal's vulnerability to climate 
change.  In 2007 it constituted a Chief Minister-led 
interdepartmental Climate Committee and a secretariat to 
coordinate and implement all climate change related activities 
in the state.  However, despite the formation of an 
inter-departmental committee, Ray regretted that politicians 
were yet to factor in climate change and the environment in 
major departmental policy decisions.  The World Bank and the 
Asian Development Bank are currently funding a vulnerability 
assessment study of greater Kolkata, expected in November 2009, 
to identify key policy priorities for decision makers. 
According to Ray, the state government will focus on adaptation 
strategies such as refurbishment of urban drainage systems, 
construction of seawalls, change in land use, adoption of early 
warning systems and improved disaster preparedness.  He said 
that the state will consider taking up only cost-effective 
mitigation actions, like incentivizing the use of CFL in place 
of incandescent bulbs.  He mentioned that based on the findings 
of the World Bank - ADB study, the state will consider drafting 
a state-level action plan on climate change along the lines of 
the GoI's National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). 
 
Large Scale Industries Pursue Carbon Reduction Strategies 
 
¶4. (U) Heavy industries and most of the big business houses 
based in the region recognize that climate change poses a threat 
to their long term sustainability and have adopted well defined 
strategies to lower their carbon emissions.  The Kolkata-based 
international consumer goods giant and hotelier ITC Ltd. has 
adopted a triple bottom line policy which apart from improving 
economic profitability also emphasizes environmental 
sustainability and corporate social responsibility.  In July 
Secretary Clinton visited the ITC's Green Building Center 
outside of New Delhi and learned about the company's efforts to 
reduce its carbon footprint.  In energy intensive industries 
like steel, leading players like Tata Steel are concentrating on 
improving energy efficiency through investment in, and 
deployment of, breakthrough energy efficiency technology.  CESC 
Limited, a leading Kolkata-based private sector power generation 
company, is benchmarking its practices against the most 
efficient power generating companies in the world.  The CESC 
Senior Environment Manager told EconFSN that the company had 
benefited from private sector exchanges organized under the Asia 
Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate. 
 
KOLKATA 00000255  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) PricewaterhouseCoopers Associate Director for 
Sustainability Surojit Bose opined that the Kyoto Protocol's 
Clean Development Mechanism tool has incentivized companies to 
adopt green technologies through the promise of carbon credits, 
although most of the large business houses like ITC and Tata 
believe that carbon management makes business sense even without 
the additional benefit.  Bose offered that large companies are 
now moving beyond mitigation actions, and have started to turn 
their eyes towards adaptation strategies. 
 
~While Small And Micro Industries Remain Unaware Of The Threats 
Of Inaction 
 
¶6. (U) On the other hand, small and micro industries have a very 
poor record of environmental compliance or the propensity to 
adopt low carbon technologies.  Vice President of the Federation 
of Small, Medium and Micro Industries Goutam Roy said that the 
primary concern of manufacturing industries in the small and 
micro sector is bottom line economic survival.  He said that 
there is little awareness or even interest in energy efficiency 
or environment friendly production in segments such as cast iron 
foundries, sponge iron manufacturing units and micro units 
manufacturing non-ferrous contact points for the electrical 
industries as it is assumed to be cost-prohibitively expensive. 
He opined that "nearly 80 percent of the small and micro units 
use outdated, energy intensive manufacturing technologies and 
regularly flout environmental regulations".  The small, 
independent and unorganized natures of the manufacturers make it 
difficult to reach and regulate the industry.  He stressed the 
importance of government action, in the form of regulation, to 
curb emissions in the small and micro industry sector, without 
which the units will continue with business as usual. 
 
Civil Society Generates Awareness and Prompts Government Action 
 
¶7. (U) In Kolkata civil society has placed an active role in 
generating public awareness about the necessity of addressing 
the effects of climate change and advocating for government 
action.  In the city, it is not uncommon to read about public 
lectures on climate change or see billboards highlighting the 
importance of protecting the environment.  Recently, 
environmental activists working with the courts were successful 
in forcing the state government to implement the ban of 
transportation vehicles older than 15 years in the city of 
Kolkata.  Professor Joyashree Roy, Head of the Global Change 
Unit at Jadavpur University, advocates a stronger role of the 
state government to incubate and disseminate new technology to 
small and medium enterprises to make them aware about the 
benefits of adopting low carbon technologies. 
 
Kolkata Business and Civil Society Support GOI's Position at the 
Climate Negotiations 
 
¶8. (U) In Kolkata on August 28, the Indian Prime Minister's 
Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran articulated the 
GoI's policy on climate change and energy security.  He 
emphasized that at the upcoming December climate change 
negotiations in Copenhagen India would not commit to legally 
binding emission reductions, although it would voluntarily 
commit to keeping its per capita emissions lower than the 
average emissions of the developed countries.  Referring to the 
Bali Action Plan, he cited the developed world's responsibility 
for historic emissions in advocating for a transfer of funds and 
technology to assist developing countries with adaptation and 
mitigation actions.  He cautioned that the GoI opposed tariffs 
on goods originating from countries that did not accept binding 
emission reduction or sectoral targets. 
 
¶9. (U) Across the board, interlocutors from private industry and 
civil society support the GoI position that it should not commit 
to legally binding emission reductions at the upcoming climate 
talks in Copenhagen.  Contacts frequently make the argument that 
"climate preservation" must not trump "poverty reduction".  They 
do; however, accept the notion of environmental responsibility - 
one is hard pressed to find anyone who espouses the view that 
Indian has a "right to pollute".  Ray and Bose believe that 
climate action strategies should dovetail those aimed at 
achieving the millennium development goals.  A general consensus 
exists that while India does not need to make an international 
commitment to reduce emissions, the country does need to make 
voluntary efforts to tread on the low carbon path in the years 
to come and that the NAPCC, although not perfect, is a good 
 
KOLKATA 00000255  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
starting point.  Civil society is generating awareness about 
climate change and encouraging the government to play a positive 
role, whether through fiscal and financial incentives, or 
regulation. 
 
Appreciation for New U.S. Focus on Climate Change 
 
¶11. (U) Interlocutors in Kolkata appreciate the Obama 
Administration's renewed focus on climate change and 
simultaneously acknowledge the importance of USG leadership on 
the issue.  They look forward to developed countries' proposal 
in Copenhagen in regards to emission reduction targets, funds 
and technology transfer.  Several remarked that U.S. credibility 
and its bargaining position at Copenhagen would be enhanced with 
the passage of the U.S. climate action bill. 
 
Comment 
 
¶12. (SBU) In Kolkata there is wide spread recognition that 
climate change is a serious problem that could have a 
devastating impact on the city.  As a result, in this urban 
cosmopolitan metro - one of India's four - the United States 
will find a receptive audience to new initiatives and leadership 
on climate change.  USG public statements that acknowledge 
developed countries' collective responsibility for historic 
emissions and emphasize our willingness to assist vulnerable 
developing countries with funds and technology transfers will be 
well received across the political and economic spectrum and 
will promote a growing perception that the USG is serious about 
combating climate change. 
PAYNE