India has refused to accept binding emissions cuts that could hamper its economic growth, but after gestures by China and the United States in recent days, experts are waiting for a possible move by the South Asian giant.

The Copenhagen summit from December 7-18 aims to produce a post-2012 accord to slash emissions from fossil fuels. Recent announcements from the United States and China have helped ease pessimism about the chances of a deal.

"China has given a wake-up call to India," Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told the Hindustan Times in an interview published Friday.

"We've to think hard about our climate strategy now and look for flexibility, as I've been saying for the past two months, to avoid being isolated at Copenhagen.

"The flexibility can be achieved without taking binding emission cuts."

Analysts say it is unclear what Ramesh means by "flexibility," but in September he spoke in favour of India revealing a strictly voluntary emissions cut target.

Referring to actions already being taken to combat fossil fuel emissions, Ramesh said these reductions could be put into "a broadly indicative number that can be shared with the rest of the world".

This figure is still under wraps inside his ministry, but were it to be revealed, it might move talks forward and mollify developed countries, which see India as a potential deal-breaker in Copenhagen.

"We still do not have an indication whether we will come to the table with a number but I think that would probably be the case after China's announcement," Ankur Ganguly, a climate expert at Greenpeace India, told AFP.

An editorial in the Mint economic daily on Friday spoke of division in the Indian cabinet on the issue of climate change, with some in favour of the status quo and others in favour of a gesture.

"The offers by the Americans and Chinese will likely strengthen the camp that favours some voluntary limits of emissions," the newspaper said.

The moves by the Chinese and the United States increase the chances of a deal in Copenhagen, the daily said.

"Suddenly there is a ray of hope cutting through the greenhouse gloom," it said.

China unveiled on Thursday what it called an ambitious plan to boost energy efficiency and curb its carbon footprint, the most detailed indication yet of its stance heading into the Copenhagen summit.

The world's most populous country pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by between 40 and 45 percent, based on 2005 levels.

The Obama administration on Wednesday offered to curb US emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 -- the first numbers put on the table by the world's largest economy.

Shirish Sinha, climate change head at campaign group WWF India, said the country should have unveiled a voluntary target before, which would have prevented it becoming isolated.

"This is what India should have done quite some time ago.... We have very legitimate, absolute numbers," he said. "It's very natural that India would get cornered."

In June last year, India unveiled its National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) which lays out its own set of mitigation measures, including clean-coal, energy efficiency and solar power initiatives.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has vowed not to let per capita emissions exceed those of industrialised countries, but studies released in September found that India's total emissions are estimated to triple by 2031.

Ganguly of Greenpeace India said the country should put accurate and realistic figures on the table, arguing that the US and Chinese numbers had been "greenwashed" -- intentionally made vague to avoid future accountability.

"The jury is still out on calculating what these numbers mean in terms of a deviation from business as usual," said Ganguly, adding that China as a top polluter was under the most pressure to announce cuts.

All rights reserved. © 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.