India launches campaign to publicise measures to tackle climate change
The Indian Government has launched an outreach campaign across the country today, which will publicise all the measures that are being taken to reduce CO2 emissions and help the country remove its defensive reputation on climate change policy. The campaign, which will be in the form of advertisement in the press and broadcasts, has been launched before the Paris climate summit in December, and will highlight India's commitment and efforts towards tackling tackle climate.
NEW DELHI: The government is launching an aggressive outreach campaign in the country and abroad to publicise all the measures India is taking to reduce carbon dioxide pollution and slow down the global rate of temperature rise, shedding its traditional defensive approach.The outreach campaign will kick off on Monday and continue all the way till the Paris climate summit in December, officials said.“India is taking many measures to deal with climate change, and specifically mitigation. The government has formulated a plan to inform people about all the efforts that are being made,” a senior official told ET.Experts say the move will help India counter the impression that it is not aggressive or ambitious enough when it comes to dealing with climate change.“There is a need to put out in the public domain all the efforts that India is making to address climate change. Often the impression is that we are not doing much, and this feeds into the India’s image of being a naysayer.The government is addressing that through a well thought-out synchronised plan,” an official close to the development said. The plan and programme were finalised late last week at a meeting held by the principal secretary to the prime minister and attended by senior officials of each of the ministries.This would be the first time that the government would undertake a planned and coordinated publicity of its efforts.Unlike in the past, the outreach on climate change action will not be done solely by the environment ministry.Each week starting Monday, one of the ministries involved in the National Climate Action Plan, including the ministries of power, renewable energy, environment, agriculture, earth sciences, water resources, rural development and health, will do a slew of outreach activities to inform people about the policies and measures that have been taken to address climate change, particularly actions to reduce carbon dioxide pollution.The first off the block will be the power ministry on Monday. The following week it will be the turn of the ministry of new and renewable energy.Given the Narendra Modi government ’s focus on implementation, the ministries have been asked to provide information on the impact that different climate actions have had, a senior official said.The domestic outreach will be in the form of advertisements in the print and broadcast, and focused interactions to disseminate information.For international outreach, the plan is to have focused interaction of top officials and ministers with key media outlets. The government also plans to have a slew of well-placed op-eds written by experts.Among the measures India has taken to address climate change is an ambitious renewable energy capacity addition programme that targets adding 175 gigawatts of solar and wind capacities, a cess on coal that has been increased from Rs 50 per tonne to Rs 200 per tonne, an aggressive energy efficiency programme, and setting up of a National Adaptation Fund and a National Clean Energy Fund The Modi government has been less defensive about the efforts that the country has been making to address climate change.