Cong has to back Obama's statement on climate change: Pachauri

New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) Taking US President Barack Obama's
commitments on climate change with a pinch of salt, leading
Indian environmentalist R K Pachauri Wednesday said his
statement has to be backed by both the Senate and Congress.

"I am reasonably optimistic that US President Obama will
certainly insist on what he has promised. But it is not
entirely upon him as he has to carry Congress and Senate with
him.

And it will not be easy as I had the feeling when I had
met the Senate a month ago," Pachauri told reporters at at the
sidelines of a function here.

"Yes, it will not be easy but it will take an unusual
leadership, which I feel he is quite capable of providing,"
the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
said.

Earlier, Obama had said that the US was ready to take a
leading role in tackling climate change and pledged to make
huge investments in renewable energy.

Pachauri made it clear that India will not give in to
global pressure seeking binding commitment on emissions.

The director general of The Energy and Resources
Institute said, "India's stand is very clear. Certainly India
will do whatever it can do within the framework of National
Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC)."