'Rs.100,000 car' a threat to environment: Pachauri

Dec 15, 2007, 12:47 GMT

New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) Even as big conglomerates like the Tata Group gear up to launch cars priced as low as Rs.100,000, R.K. Pachauri, who received the Nobel Peace prize this week as chief of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said these will be a major threat to environment.

'In India roads are not well planned and not made in a proper way. They do not support public transport that much and we are increasingly becoming dependant on cars,' Pachauri said in a felicitation event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Saturday.

'With the coming in of Rs.1 lakh (Rs.100,000) car, I am having nightmares, I don't know what will happen then,' the IPCC chief told a gathering of industry leaders.

Urging Indian industry to come forward in a big way and start being pro-active in saving the world against the dangers of global warming, Pachauri said: 'Future of human race is going to be a low carbon future and the Indian industry has to take the lead and be part of the solution.'

Pachauri asked it to strategise its business plans in such as way that it gradually moves towards a low carbon economy.

He said with each passing day heat waves, dry monsoons, cyclones would be a common phenomenon. India's coastal regions would be severely affected by the rising sea levels.

'Extreme precipitation is on an increase and will continue to increase. Floods, droughts, glacier melting are increasing. Sea-level rise will become a major threat for deltaic cities,' Pachauri said.

'Impact of climate change on agriculture will be humongous. There will be a significant decline in the production of wheat. This would all be accentuated due to scarcity of water,' he said.

'Water management is something I urge the industry to look at very seriously and in the coming years water will emerge as a major cause of conflict within countries.'

'Financial planning also has a major role to play in this. How we subsidise water, power and all will have an affect on the environment. We will have to start exploring immediately as to how we develop and adopt new technology,' Pachauri emphasised.

He suggested new kind of corporate gifts for the festive season such as solar torches and solar lanterns to help save electricity.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service