INDIA may eventually commit itself to legally-binding emissions reduction targets, the environment minister said in remarks broadcast today, a shift that could bolster troubled UN climate talks in Mexico.
India is the world’s No. 3 greenhouse gas polluter after the US and China, and rapid economic growth and consumption are driving up production of planet-warming carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, transport and industry.
But the government has long insisted it will not accept binding emissions reduction targets in any new climate deal because to do so would harm the economy and stall its aim to lift millions out of poverty.
But environment minister Jairam Ramesh, speaking on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Cancun, said it was time to shift India’s stance by accepting the need for cuts as part of a new legally binding climate pact.
“All countries must make binding commitments in appropriate legal form. This does not mean that India is for a legally binding commitment at this stage. That’s our position,” Ramesh told CNN-IBN news television channel.
“There are changing realities that we have to understand. Increasingly, more and more developing countries are asking questions of India, China and the United States, the three big countries saying they will not accept an international legally-binding agreement.
“I have nuanced our position. Let’s keep this discussion going, let’s understand the sentiments of the rest of the world, and let’s not be painted as the bad guy.”
Talks on a deal to slow global warming were on a “knife edge” yesterday in Cancun as Brazil and Japan expressed guarded hopes of ending a dispute between rich and poor about curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
The long-running UN negotiations have stalled over disagreement between rich and poor nations over how much to cut greenhouse gas emissions and how to share the burden in any new agreement.
Developing nations have said they should not take on legally binding cuts when rich nations need to do more and that the rich are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas pollution over the past two centuries.
Ramesh’s stand on eventually accepting binding targets was expected to be slammed by opposition parties back home and any serious political pressure on the government could force him to back down.
An Indian official confirmed Ramesh’s remarks.
