India is willing to curb its growth in carbon emissions, but stands firm on its rejection of a “peaking” year. Nor will India accept international scrutiny of voluntary domestic measures to tackle climate change, says Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh to The Times of India.
Demands for a peaking year and for international scrutiny of all mitigation actions in developing countries are hot issues at the negotiating table in Copenhagen. Mainly because developed countries want to be sure that the larger developing countries also do their part to combat global warming.
Ramesh says India has come to Copenhagen “to play a constructive, facilitative, leadership role to ensure an effective and equitable agreement… But at the same time we will not agree to a concept of a peaking year for India because we have a huge backlog of development particularly in expanding rural electricity supply.”
India has announced a voluntary target of reducing carbon intensity by 20 to 25 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. It is also planning to implement MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) on emissions, checked by parliament, civil society and media, Ramesh says.
Source :- United Nations Climate Change Conference {Dec 7 to Dec 18, 2009}
