India to oppose targets for cutting carbon emissions

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has said that India would not accept any targets that could be set by international bodies to reduce its carbon emissions, and rejected US Presient George Bush's contention that India and China should set emission goals.

''India cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be regarded as a major polluter of greenhouse gases,'' he asserted.

The prime minster said that India's contribution to global emissions is less than four per cent, with its per capita emissions being amongst the lowest at an average of around 1.2 tonnes. He was speaking to the media aboard a special flight on his way to Tokyo, to be present at the G8 summit.

He also said that he had made India's position clear at last year's G8 summit at Heiligendamm that India's per capita emissions of greenhouse gases would not exceed the average of the develped countries, and therefore the developed countries need to make deeper cuts, which would be an incentive for India to move along faster.

He said that development is the topmost priority for India in order to solve the problem of chronic poverty, and that India had brought out a national plan to deal with climate change.

When the G8 summit opened earlier in the week, US President George Bush had said that while he would be "constructive" in talks on climate change, the issue would only be resolved if fast-growing China and India agree on long-term emission goals. Last week, India had unveiled its National Action Plan on Climate Change, which underscores India's commitment to cooperate with other countries to find solutions within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Bali Road Map.

India is of the view that the mandatory caps and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were more applicable to developed countries, who are responsible for almost all of the excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Prime Minister's chief negotiator on climate change Shyam Saran is also accompanying him to Japan, and had said last week that there was no question of India agreeing to a mandatory cap on its greenhouse gas emissions.

He said that the National Action Plan on Climate Change is much more than India's response to the challenge from climate change, and is a roadmap for ensuring long-term energy security of the country that would lead to sustainable development.

Saran also said that the biggest challenge before the government in its endeavours to ensure long-term sustainable development for India, was finding cheap and clean sources of energy. He said that this is where the national action plan will try to make a difference, by exploring ways to shift from conventional energy sources to alternative ones.

He said that without making a strategic shift from being an 'oil driven' economy to one that uses renewable sources of energy, the energy constraint could not be addressed. He added that development, climate change, and energy security are all closely related, and neither could be viewed in isolation.

India is part of the O-5 countries that have been invited as outreach partners to the Group of Eight (G8) summit. Other members of the O-5 are China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico.