Headline: Indian Environmental Politican Jairam Ramesh at IASS for Research on Global Climate Agreement

What can we expect from the climate conference in Paris (COP 21) at the end of this year? How can we move forward after that – in India and elsewhere? Jairam Ramesh, former minister of environment and forests in India, is currently seeking answers to these kinds of questions at the IASS. As a distinguished senior fellow, he will work for one year – from January to December 2015 – on a research project on the potential for elaborating a global climate agreement in India in the context of COP 21. His insights are contributing to the IASS dialogue with stakeholders from politics, science and society, which is targeted towards a comprehensive approach to sustainable development worldwide. The sixty-year old has been a member of parliament for the Indian National Congress (INC) since 2004.

Ramesh was India’s chief negotiator at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009. By urging states to be constructive and flexible when it comes to climate protection, he contributed to the success of negotiations at the subsequent Cancún Climate Conference in 2010. He is committed to anchoring environmental issues in the pursuit of two goals: economic growth and the fight against poverty. He was one of the first people to argue that low-carbon economic growth is not just important, but also feasible with appropriate investment and technologies, as well as suitable pricing policies. For Ramesh, economic development is not necessarily incompatible with climate protection measures.

Ramesh has long been recognised as a leading figure in international climate diplomacy and is internationally renowned for his experience and foresight. As a member of the INC, he plays a key role in shaping global sustainability policy. Ramesh was a columnist for India Today. He has also written several books on US-Indian relations and the consequences of globalisation, the latest of which,Green Signals, was published in 2015. In that book, he describes the challenges and obstacles he faces in his efforts to integrate environmental issues into political and economic decision-making processes.

Photo: (c) Jairam Ramesh

13.02.2015