India rejects emission cuts
Country Won’t Accept Legally Binding Conditions, Environment Minister Tells Hillary
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Environment minister Jairam Ramesh asserted on Sunday in the presence of visiting US secretary of state Hillary Clinton that India would never take legally binding commitments to cut down on emissions.
“India’s position is clear and categorical that we are simply not in a position to take any legally binding emissions reductions,” Ramesh said at conference on climate change he addressed along with the visiting secretary of state to mark the opening of ITC’s Green Centre building in Gurgaon.
His remarks came against the backdrop of growing pressure on India and China from the US-led bloc of developed countries to take quantifiable targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alluded to the growing US-led insistence that India relent on its stand not to accept targets.
Ramesh drew the red lines clearly. “There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have been among the lowest emitters per capita, face to actually reduce emissions. And as if this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours.”
Clinton defused what could have been an airing of differences between the US and India when she said the US would do nothing to limit India’s economic growth.
“The US does not and will not do anything that will limit India’s economic progress. We believe that economic progress in India is in everyone’s interest and not just in the interest of Indians,” Clinton said.
But despite her efforts to sound accommodative of India’s development concerns, Ramesh’s speech made it clear that climate change was emerging as a hot button issue on the bilateral agenda in the runup to the UN-sponsored Copenhagen summit on the global challenge scheduled for December.
HILLARY’S TAKE
US wants India to agree to limit carbon emissions ahead of signing of new UN climate treaty in Copenhagen in Dec. On Sunday, she pointed out that India’s green house gas pollution is projected to grow 50% between now and 2030
JAIRAM’S RESPONSE
India is not in a position to accept any legally binding emission reductions... Developed nations must reward countries which are expanding forest cover
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New Delhi: Climate change is fast emerging as a hot potato in Indo-US bilateral relations. In fact, Hillary Clinton, while acknowledging US' responsibility as the biggest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, also spoke of across-the-board responsibility for tackling climate change. "To lift people out of poverty and to give every child born in India a chance to live up to his or her given potential is a goal that we share with you. But we also believe that there is a way to eradicate poverty and develop sustainably that will lower significantly the carbon footprint of the energy that is produced and consumed to fuel that growth," she said.
"The US and India can devise a plan that will dramatically change the way we produce, consume and conserve energy," Clinton stressed.
Ramesh tried to counter the view that India was fighting shy of taking measures to arrest climate change. After the conference, he said, "It is not true to say that India is running away from mitigation (efforts). India has been saying that its primary focus will be adaptation but there are specific areas where we are already in a policy framework that envisages mitigation which means actual reduction of emission."
No breakthroughs are expected during Clinton's official engagements beginning on Monday, this essentially being a trip where she is trying to do a couple of things --to set out an agenda for future Indo-US ties, cutting across areas as diverse as non-proliferation and education, agriculture and civil nuclear energy, climate change and microfinance.
On Monday, Clinton is scheduled to meet the PM for lunch and thereafter meet foreign minister S M Krishna, Leader of Opposition L K Advani and Sonia Gandhi.
On the list of announcements on Monday, an end-user monitoring agreement (EUMA) is tottering after US and Indian officials failed to come to an agreement on two words, "legitimate self-defence and security". India is expected to announce two nuclear sites for US companies in AP and Gujarat, while in Vienna, India and US officials get ready for talks on a reprocessing agreement.
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