PM looks West on emission cuts

PM looks West on emission cuts
Hindustan Times, HT Business, November 9, 2009, Page 21

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday asked developed countries to contribute more for limiting carbon emissions, even as he assured India’s cooperation for arriving a purposeful outcome at the conference on climate change to be held in Copenhagen next month.

India has been arguing that on a per-capita basis, it ranks low in greenhouse gas emissions that need to be cut down to contain harmful climate change, but has been a keen to participate under what the government calls a “common, but differentiated” approach to sharing the burden of reducing emissions.

“We will work with all like-minded countries to promote a purposeful outcome of the (December 6-18) Copenhagen Conference,” Singh said at the India Economic Summit, organised jointly by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here. Singh also called for green technologies at affordable prices from develoeped countries.

“In recognition of common but differentiative capabilities, it is our hope that while all the countries will be required to contribute according to their capacities and abilities, the world's major economies will be prepared to ...(ensure that) large capital flows become available for integration for adaptation measures,” Singh said at the summit, which was attended by top global corporate leaders.

The debate on climate change has seen a growing rift between developing and developed nations. The Copenhagen Conference is aimed at establishing a mid-term emission reduction targets for countries.

Developing countries, led by India, have consistently said rich countries will have to make larger allocations. Their argument is that the rich nations were largely responsible for accumulation of carbon-di-oxide (CO2) in the atmosphere with their industrialisation of more than 150 years.

At a summit last week, the finance ministers of European Union nations estimated that about 100 billion euros ($ 150 billion or Rs 7 lakh crore) would be needed every yeara to tackle global warming. Developed countries are now pressing large emerging economies such as India to commit for a 15 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020.