Science, Technology, and Public Policy

Speakers: 

• Mr. Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India
• Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi; India
• Prof. Johannes Urpelainen, Founding Director, Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP), Johns Hopkins University, Washington D.C.
• Mr. Ranjit Bharvirkar, Principal and India Program Director, Regulatory Assistance Project, Vermont

Moderated by Professor John P. Holdren,  Co-Director,  Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program

The seminar will begin with an introduction of the Science, Technology, & Public Policy Program and its focus on India's energy decarbonization and then each speaker will present for 15 minutes. This will be followed by a panel discussion and question and answer session moderated by Prof. John P. Holdren.

Coffee & Tea will be provided.

Co-sponsored by the Consortium of Energy Policy Research

Bringing together students, investigators, policy makers, and others committed to understanding and communicating the human health impacts of global environmental change.

Minister Jairam Ramesh is a Fisher Family Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project and a leader in international climate negotiations. A Member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh, Ramesh was chief negotiator for India at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 to 18 December 2009. He has been a leading figure in international climate diplomacy for years. In this Project on Managing the Atom Seminar, Ramesh will examine India's Nuclear Energy Policy and Climate Change.

This presentation is based on the speaker's analysis of the implications of India's call for energy-intensive growth for removing poverty and inequity in respect of the twin challenges of environmental sustainability and energy security in India.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come-first served basis.

The speakers will present a new framework for allocation of a global carbon reduction target among nations, in which "common but differentiated responsibilities" refers to the emissions of individuals, rather than of nations.  Their scheme is designed to blend parsimony, fairness, and pragmatism - one rule for everyone. All those with the same emissions are treated equally, wherever they live. "High emitters" are defined as those whose emissions exceed a universal individual emissions cap, which is derived transparently from a global emissions target. National targets are derived by summing the excess emissions of all "high emitter" individuals in a country. Nations are free to determine the policies they need to meet these targets, but policies that pursue emissions reduction across a wide swath of a country's economy is preferable to those that address only the emissions of the country's high emitters.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come-first served basis.

Chikkatur will outline the status of coal resource assessment and extraction in India, and will then discuss key issues that need to be addressed in order to ensure sustainable development of the coal and coal power sectors in India.  He will also highlight policy options derived from a series of workshops in India.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come-first served basis.