At climate meet, India will not bend

As the week-long UN climate summit begins in New York on Tuesday, India has said it would like to be a part of a deal maker and not the deal breaker.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh pointed out that while India would not budge from its position on legally binding carbon emission cuts, it would like to be part of a solution and not be a deal breaker (Watch full interview below).

The summit will be key to advancing negotiations that are currently at an impasse over emission targets for developing nations, ahead of an agreement during the UN conference in Copenhagen this December.

The Copenhagen agreement would then replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, requiring mandatory cuts in atmosphere-warming gases. The Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. As far as India is concerned, the main sticking point is America's demand that it accept legally binding emission cuts.

India is clear that it will not accept any legally binding cuts on carbon emission. It also insists that its per capita emission of carbon is lower than that of America or other developed countries.

India also feels it should be given credit for its large-scale afforestation programme.

Asked about India being called uncooperative and stubborn, Jairam said: "Not at all. I think the world is completely wrong on this. We have got an image that is contrary to what we have been doing. The message that I am trying to convey is that we have not caused the problem of global warming but we want to be part of the solution at Copenhagen. We want to be a deal maker not the deal breaker.

"We are taking very aggressive adaptation measures. We are also being very aggressive unilaterally, voluntarily on mitigation. We are thinking of domestic legislation to enhance the measure of credibility on our mitigation actions and all our measures have been widely appreciated."

On America emitting 22 per cent of emissions and asked whether an international agreement on climate change was possible without the US on board, Jairam said: "Without the US there is no agreement. The US has to come up with a substantial cut on its emissions by 2020. There is no doubt about it but the politics of it seems to be difficult.

"There is the health care debate, the economic slowdown. So many other issues, the war in Iraq, Afghanistan. I don't see what the appetite is for a successful deal in Copenhagen. We are hopeful. India is trying to do its best to work with the United States and to create conditions that will facilitate the US to make meaningful cuts because without the US there is not going to be any meaningful deal and we know that. Chianti knows it, India knows it and so does Europe."