"The department has taken some steps to reduce CO2 emissions. Coal-fired boilers have been replaced with oil-fired ones, reducing emissions by 29,000 tonne per annum. Steps have been taken to curb emissions by sponge iron units in Burdwan, Bankura and Purulia. But these aren't enough. We need to identify more areas," environment minister Sailen Sarkar said at a national seminar on global climate change organised by the pollution control board, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Jadavpur University. On June 14, Sarkar and his team will sit with transport department counterpart to chalk out emission reduction measures.

Jadavpur University vicechancellor S Datta acknowledged that the state needed to prepare a baseline data on CO2 emission. "We are using data from other countries to extrapolate how much methane is produced in the field and how much CO2 is emitted by an industry. This is erroneous," he said.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who inaugurated the seminar, stressed the need to fight climate change to enable industrial development. "Industrialisation cannot take place until environment is taken care of."