This is, of course, not to say that we should not reduce emissions. Emission reductions will help delay the problem, while new technologies are developed. And the best solution to that is sharply increasing the prices of petroleum and coal. Yes, we do need more nuclear power, we also need to refocus emphasis away from ethanol, whether from jatropha or corn or sugarcane based, towards other non-combustible energy sources. We need greater use of other non-greenhouse energy alternatives, such as hydel, solar, nuclear, and wind power.

In the net therefore every country needs to work on such emission reduction alternatives unilaterally — including India. An international agreement on this will be quite difficult to put in place, will not solve the problem, and will not build international cooperation. But together with the developed countries we can work on creating cooperative and sustainable technology driven greenhouse gas reduction solutions.

The writer heads the economic research firm, Indicus Analytics laveesh@indicus.net