India vows cooperation on climate change but not at economic cost

October 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - India has proposed annual bilateral dialogues with the United States and the European Union to exchange notes on the issue of climate change, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has said. The proposed dialogue with the Europeans and the Americans could be on the lines of the first India-China energy dialogue scheduled to take place in New Delhi Oct 21, he said at a press conference here Friday at the end of his US visit.

September 23rd, 2009 Obama pleads for harder work on climate changeUNITED NATIONS — President Barack Obama has implored world leaders to confront climate change, saying there can be no peace without cooperative work to preserve the planet. Appearing before global leaders gathered at the United Nations, Obama said Wednesday that "the danger posed by climate change cannot be denied — and our responsibility to meet it must not be deferred." The president said "this is why the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over." He said he understood the tempation of nations to put economic recovery from recession ahead of climate change work, but said that must not be allowed to happen.

September 1st, 2009 KOLKATA - Britain understands the need for economic growth in India and would not pressurise New Delhi to reduce emissions, British Minister for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband said here Tuesday. "I have not come here to ask your government to reduce emissions.

July 19th, 2009 GURGAON - Seeking India's proactive cooperation for a new global climate deal, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday made a strong pitch for low-carbon economy and assured that Washington will not do anything that will limit India's economic progress. The US does not and will not do anything that will limit India's economic progress.

July 19th, 2009 GURGAON - Underlining differences with developed countries over climate change, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Sunday said India can't accept legally binding greenhouse emission targets. "I like to make it clear and categorical that we are simply not in position to take on legal binding on emission reduction targets," Ramesh said at a conference on climate change at the ITC Green Centre in this satellite town of Delhi.

July 18th, 2009 MUMBAI - There is "no inherent contradiction between poverty eradication and moving towards a low-carbon economy", US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday, signalling her government's approach towards India in the area of combating climate change. "The United States fully supports India's efforts to move all its people out of poverty," Clinton said at a news conference here.

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's poor will have enormous problem in arranging their livelihood due to climate change, and it will be better the country stops being a climate sceptic, a government official said Thursday. "There is enough scientific evidence to corroborate the fact that climate change poses unprecedented risks to both human life and in fact, to human civilisation," New and Renewable Energy Secretary Deepak Gupta said at a conference on climate change.

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 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India is now spending over 2.6 percent of its gross domestic product to adapt to climate change, says the country's annual Economic Survey, tabled in parliament Thursday by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The effect of climate change on "agriculture, water resources, health and sanitation, forests, coastal-zone infrastructure and extreme events" are "specific areas of concern", says the survey.

June 27th, 2009 Obama, Brown speak on climate change, economyWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday spoke with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss climate change and the global economic recovery. Obama spoke with his counterpart by telephone as part of their ongoing consultations.

June 26th, 2009 BRUSSELS - The year 2009 "is a crucial year" for India and the European Union (EU) to find ways to address common challenges posed by climate change, energy and terrorism, a top official of the 27-member grouping said here Friday. India and the EU are "two natural partners" and they need to find ways to fight all those challenges jointly, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU commissioner for external relations, said ahead of India-EU ministerial Troika meeting to be held in the Czech capital city of Prague Monday.

May 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - There should be high level talks between Brazil, Russia, India and China on a global pact to combat climate change before the first BRIC summit in Russia next month, India's top climate negotiator Shyam Saran said here Thursday. The talks should be at the level of either politicians or senior officials, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Saran told delegates from all BRIC countries at a summit preparatory meeting organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

March 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special envoy on nuclear issues and climate change Shyam Saran is holding talks with the Obama administration focusing on cooperation in the field of renewable and clean energy. Saran Monday articulated India's view on how to tackle the crucial issue taking into account the concerns of developing and emerging economies at meetings with Todd Stern, US Special Envoy on Climate Change and Nancy Helen Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

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.