The Government has given a go-ahead on extending the term of the Planning Commission’s high-level expert group on low carbon strategies for inclusive growth.
The tenure of the expert group was extended by the Planning Commission from time to time as their final report is still awaited. The expert group submitted its interim report to the Planning Commission in May 2011. On August 22, 2013, the Planning Commission had further extended the tenure of the expert group till December 31, 2013.
Under the Chairmanship of Kirit Parikh, former Member, Planning Commission and Director, Integrated Research and Action for Development, the committee’s interim report was criticised for playing safe.
Critics had said that the report, which only discussed policy options, failed to provide of a road map on strategies for low carbon growth but merely established through a series of calculations that the country was capable of meeting its Copenhagen commitment.
At Copenhagen, India had assured that it would reduce the economy’s emission intensity by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020 from its 2005 levels.
Set up as fallout of the December 2009 Copenhagen Summit, the expert group was formed to draw up a low carbon growth road map comprising sector-specific initiatives with suggested timelines and targets. This was mainly aimed at handling environmental pollution by bringing down the level of carbon emission.
For transport, the interim report had restricted itself to freight, urban passenger transport and fuel efficiencies.