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India can lead battle against climate change: Blair

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

For a better world: The former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, during the launch of “Breaking Climate Deadlock” — a collaborative global initiative for a successful international policy framework on climate change — in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday said India had an important role to play in mitigating the impact of climate change.

As a powerful, developing nation with the right response to the issue, India could assume a strong leadership role, he said at the launch here of an initiative, “Breaking the Climate Deadlock.”

As “India would face the worst consequences of climate change that would involve its food security, water and energy security also,” it was the right place to strike a right global deal, Mr. Blair said. He appreciated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for setting up a separate council to look into climate change-related issues and come up with an action plan.

Pointing out that unless the world changed course by the middle of the century, irreparable damage would be caused, Mr. Blair said it was important that the global community came together to deal with the problem.

Calling upon the developed world to take “strong, definitive” action for checking emissions and offer incentives by way of technology and funds, Mr. Blair said only then it would be fair to ask the developing nations — including India and China — to make commitments to mitigate climate change. “The world has a common but differentiated responsibility and we all have an obligation. Those who have grown [industrially] and those who are growing.”

Suggesting “transformative and revolutionary changes in society and economy,” Mr. Blair said while it was true that the Western world was responsible for climate change and the main responsibility of reversing the trend vested with it, unless developing countries checked emission, nothing much could be achieved. “The substantial, transformative effort may start from the developed world but it has to include the developing nations too.”

The project — Breaking the Climate Deadlock — is being undertaken by the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation and The Climate Group, a non-profit organisation that works internationally and with government and business leaders to advance climate change solutions and accelerate a low-carbon economy. A group has been set up to devise a framework for getting the developed world and the developing world, including China and India, into a comprehensive deal to tackle climate change.

Mr. Blair leads this work and guides it politically to ensure that technical work is given the right political direction.

The project has already been launched in Japan and China.

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