Climate change: developed countries unwilling to commit to 2020 targets

October 9th, 2009 No deal on crucial issues as UN climate talks end BANGKOK — The United States was heavily criticized Friday at the U.N. climate talks in Bangkok for failing to offer emission cuts or financing for developing countries — both considered crucial to reaching a global warming pact this year.

October 7th, 2009 BANGKOK - Talks to finalise a climate treaty in time for December's Copenhagen summit are still stuck over key issues of the extent to which industrialised countries will reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how much they will pay developing countries to deal with global warming, India's top climate negotiator said here Wednesday. As the Sep 28-Oct 9 preparatory talks here neared their final phase, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran said: "There is no agreement on the most difficult issues - mitigation (of GHG emissions) and financing." "We need an early decision on significant (GHG) emission reduction targets during the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2013-2020), but there's virtually no progress." India and 36 other developing countries have proposed that industrialised countries -- which have emitted almost all the excess GHG that is leading to climate change -- reduce their emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020, compared to 1990.

October 6th, 2009 BANGKOK - Rich countries have been framing the climate debate to suit themselves rather than looking at the way global warming affects most of the world, which is why a global treaty is proving elusive, India's top climate negotiator said here Tuesday. "They don't talk about equity, they only talk of how to protect their lifestyles," the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran told a group of Indian NGO representatives.

September 25th, 2009 PITTSBURGH - Amid mounting pressure from the developed countries to take emission reduction target before December's Copenhagen climate change meet, India has stated that while its emission levels would not exceed those of developed countries, it is against any legally binding absolute emission targets. Speaking on the sidelines of the G-20 summit here, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on climate change Shyam Saran said that India would not be able to take absolute emission reduction targets of the kind which developed countries are obliged to take under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

September 22nd, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - Asserting that India has not caused the climate change problem in any way, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said New Delhi will be part of the solution, but the outcome must be rooted in equity.

September 18th, 2009 LONDON - Indian plans to set numerical targets for curbing greenhouse gas emissions were described Friday as a breakthrough that challenges the US and other rich nations over climate change action. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told The Times of London legislation was being drafted to limit India's carbon footprint ahead of a UN climate change summit in Copenhagen December.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Seeking to underplay differences with India over climate change, the US says it is "encouraging" that both countries are committed to do whatever they can to reach an agreement on a new UN climate treaty at Copenhagen. "Well, I don't think so," Philip J.

July 11th, 2009 ON BOARD AIR INDIA ONE - India and China need to resist pressure from industrialised countries on the issue of climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday. The developed countries are by far the biggest polluters of the environment since the start of the Industrial Age.

July 10th, 2009 L'AQUILA - India is hopeful that the issue of climate change will move forward with the G8 countries, the group of the world's most developed nations, discussing the setting up of a Green Fund. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran said Friday that the step by the G8 to provide financial assistance to the Green Fund was a "forward-looking one".

July 10th, 2009 L'AQUILA - The developing countries criticised the G-8 nations for not taking enough steps to curb global warming, dubbing the proposed long-term targets as meaningless. he larger developing nations said they wanted to see more credible mid term targets than long-term ambitious targets.

July 9th, 2009 L'AQUILA - The G8 or the world's most wealthy and developed countries have remained non-committal on setting targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a demand being stressed by the emerging economies (G5) and other developing countries. Though the G8 and G5 came out with a joint declaration on various issues at this quake-hit Italian town, 100 km from Rome, the document neither set targets for reducing emissions nor any dateline.

July 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - As leaders of the world's 13 major countries prepare to meet at the G8+5 summit in Italy this week, 24 leading scientists from these countries have appealed to them to take immediate action to combat climate change. "We come together to call on our government leaders to recognise both the unacceptable risks that climate change creates for our societies, and the unprecedented opportunities a clean energy, low-carbon transition creates for our economies," the scientists said in a joint appeal.

June 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India will not sign any treaty that legally binds it to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh reiterated here Tuesday, attacking a proposed US legislation that seeks to financially punish countries that refuse to take on such targets. At a time when climate change - along with terrorism and the economic downturn - is dominating the international agenda, Ramesh told the media that India "must stop looking at climate change purely as an international issue".

June 4th, 2009 BRUSSELS - The European Union (EU) Wednesday hit a deadlock over the question of how to fund the fight against climate change in the developing world, EU diplomats said. The bloc is committed to supporting climate-change mitigation measures in poorer countries as part of a bid to win global acceptance for strict limits on emissions of greenhouse gases at a meeting in Copenhagen in December.

February 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Friday stressed that the global economic crisis should not become a cause for developed countries to cut down spending on projects to counter climate change. 'The economic slowdown should not be an excuse to reduce, but to re-double efforts on funding for climate change,' prime minister's envoy on climate change Shyam Saran told reporters here at an interaction.