New Delhi, December 01 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday assured US President Barack Obama that India is willing to play a constructive role in the negotiations over emission cuts during the forthcoming summit on climate change in Copenhagen.
Singh told Obama that New Delhi is ready for the emission cut commitments, but with certain conditions attached to it. The Prime Minister also said that he was looking forward to a successful outcome in Copenhagen.
The assurance from the Indian side was made after US President spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed several issues including climate change, the situation in Afghanistan, and the steps required to bring peace and stability in the region.
During the brief conversation, Prime Minister stressed that it was important for all major regional and international players to put their weight behind the Afghan government. Obama had highlighted the importance of tackling violence and extremism emanating from the region “in a serious way”.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has repeatedly said that it was willing to take greater steps to tackle the challenge posed by global warming provided there was a more supportive global regime.
India has also made it clear that it was not in a position to take legally binding emission cuts, but has already embarked on an enhanced energy efficiency mission which could reduce the carbon intensity of its rapid growth.
Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran has also said that contrary to the developed countries’ action plan, India has already begun unconditional implementation of its promises to tackle global warming.
Rajendra K Pachauri, chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has backed the government’s stand on emission cuts.
The IPCC chief said, “India is at crossroads. I hope that the Prime Minister will go to Copenhagen. The cuts in emission are out of question for us at the moment.” Stressing that India’s stand was not blocking the progress on climate change, Pachauri said, “We want the world to know that India is a deal maker and not a deal breaker.”
New Delhi had earlier rejected a draft climate change proposal by Denmark that expects developing economies to peak their greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.
The draft document was circulated to a few countries ahead of the Dec 7-18 summit in Copenhagen, which is supposed to draw up an agreement for controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases causing global warming.
Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said the Danish draft was “totally unacceptable,” reports claimed.
“We are never going to take on a peaking year for absolute emissions. This is not on the horizon,” Ramesh was quoted as saying.
—Agencies