Avoid obsession with cars: UN to China and India

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China and other big developing countries such as India need to take steps to avoid being over-reliant on private cars, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning UN climate panel said.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that investing in improving railways and urban public transportation was one way countries such as China could balance the need for fighting climate change with that for economic growth.

"This excessive and growing reliance on private vehicular transport is certainly something that doesn't suit large, populous countries like China and India," Pachauri said.

"So we have to find a different model for that -- much more efficient and better railway systems, much better local transport in terms of use of public transport options," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia held in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan.

China is already the world's second-largest vehicle market, despite only a small fraction of urban residents owning a car.

With incomes rising, car sales are growing by more than a fifth each year, contributing further to serious air pollution in cities, as well as to emissions. China is set to surpass the United States as the world's top emitter of carbon dioxide.

For its part, India will this year see the world's cheapest car, the Nano, hit its roads, bringing car ownership closer to within reach for millions of poorer consumers.

DISTANT DREAMS

Pachauri acknowledged that investment in better public transport alone would not be enough to curb growth in private car ownership. Lifestyle changes stemming from better awareness of environmental issues would be important as well, he said.

That, in turn, places responsibility on Western countries.

"You won't get lifestyle changes in the developing world unless the developed world also makes some efforts to bring about those changes," he said.

"I mean, everybody over here watches television and they see all the good things in life in the developed world and naturally they're not prepared to give up that distant vision or dream."

Big developing nations such as China and India are reluctant to agree to any measures as part of global climate change negotiations that might curb their rapid industrialisation, arguing that rich countries, with much higher per capita emissions, should do more.