India rejects accepting legally binding emission cuts

Betwa Sharma
Cancun, Dec 9 (PTI) Cracks have developed among India
and three other developing countries on accepting legally
binding emission cut at the climate change summit here, with
India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh saying there is
concerted pressure on the country and China to accept such
cuts.
Rejecting legally binding emission cuts, Ramesh said
India, China and the US are not in favour of it though such a
move is supported by other developed countries, and several
nations within the G77 including African nations and Least
Developed Countries.
"There is a concerted move by a group of developed
countries using developing countries to put pressure on India
and China and within BASIC, since South Africa and Brazil are
supportive of a legally binding agreement," Ramesh said.
India was not ready to show flexibility at this stage
on the issue of binding emission cuts and will insist on a
second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol which is set
to expire in 2012, he said.
"There can be no flexibility on these," he added.
As per Kyoto Protocol, rich nations are supposed to
take legally-binding emission cuts, while no such provision
exists for developing countries.
India, along with most of other developing countries,
has been maintaining that taking up binding emissions cuts
will hamper its growth, including poverty alleviation efforts.
Referring to the "flexible" stance taken by India in
the past one year since the Copenhagen climate meet, Ramesh
said India's position on climate change has been evolving and
needs to evolve further.
Earlier in the day cracks appeared between India,
China and and developing nations even among BASIC countries.
The BASIC group comprise Brazil, South Africa, India and
China.
"There are differences within BASIC. India and China
are united on this issue. Brazil and South Africa are united,"
Ramesh said.
"This pressure is coming from developed countries
through AOSIS, BASIC and LDCs."
"At this stage India's strategy is to keep the door
open, the door was being closed on us," Ramesh said. (more)
PTI