Climate change will get pride of place in this year's Economic Survey with a special chapter proposed to be devoted to it. The move is a clear signal of the importance that the Finance Ministry attaches to climate change.

The Economic Survey for 2011-12, which will be tabled in Parliament in the upcoming Budget session, will have 14 chapters, including the one on climate change. Last year, for the first-time, the Economic Survey had a dedicated section on climate change.

The climate change chapter could be a rallying point around which one could get people to work together, Dr Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Ministry, said at a workshop on climate change financing here on Saturday. This workshop was jointly organised by the climate change finance unit in the Finance Ministry and the United Nations Development Programme.

The proposed chapter will cover financing issues as well, Dr Basu said.

The Economic Affairs Secretary, Mr R. Gopalan, said that climate change challenges were both environmental and developmental. It is in India's interest that the world community addresses the issue effectively, he said.

Mr Gopalan said that the expert group on low-carbon strategies for inclusive growth is now working out the costs associated with the options for bringing down the emission intensity of India's GDP. He also hinted that the Budget would grant more resources to explicitly address climate change and sustainability issues.

Mr Mauskar, Special Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, said that India will encounter high costs in mitigating and adapting to climate change. He said that some financial mechanisms may enable mitigation costs to be borne by the private sector but this will be eventually passed on to the consumers. However, the cost of adaptation needs to be borne entirely by public finances, making global financial transfers (grant, low interest loans) highly relevant, he added.

> krsrivats@thehindu.co.in

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