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Indian climate envoy resists emission targets
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  • NEW DELHI, Nov 29 (AFP) Nov 29, 2009
    India's chief climate change negotiator has flatly rejected taking on emission reduction targets a day after Premier Manmohan Singh said the country would commit to cuts conditionally.

    India, one of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters, has yet to offer figures on reining in its carbon output, with just over a week to go until UN climate talks start in Copenhagen.

    Singh said on Saturday that India was "willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emissions reductions or limiting temperature increase" provided developed countries shared in the burden of funding mitigation.

    But in an interview broadcast Sunday, chief negotiator Shyam Saran told the NDTV news channel that India was under no pressure to join the United States and China -- the world's top two carbon sources -- in announcing firm numbers ahead of the summit.

    "There cannot be any emission cuts," said Saran, adding that the developed world did not expect countries like India to adopt emission reduction targets but instead to accept "deviation from business as usual."

    "The only difference of opinion is whether or not this deviation...can be quantified. But signing on to emission reduction targets in the same manner as developed countries, that's simply not possible," he added.

    Last week's pledges by the US and China to cut emissions have boosted hopes of some sort of consensus at Copenhagen, and Saturday's statement by Singh looked to be the first sign of flexibility on the issue.

    India has refused to accept binding emission cuts that it says could slow its economic growth and has instead highlighted voluntary actions to stem emissions, such as renewable energy.

    It says rich nations historically responsible for global warming should pay for reduction efforts in developing countries, and has favoured sticking to a framework at Copenhagen which mirrors the Kyoto Protocol, which sets rich and poor countries apart.

    Saran reiterated that Singh's pledge to keep India's per capita emissions below average per capita emissions in industrialised countries would remain a "major commitment."

    "We have already committed ourselves to a lower trajectory, but we are saying that to quantify it is not easy."

    The December 7-18 Copenhagen negotiations are aimed at drafting a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.




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