'Climate change: India not acting under pressure'

With nations engaged in tough negotiations for a new climate treaty, India has said its decision on voluntary reduction of carbon emission intensity was not announced under pressure but was made to 'facilitate and promote a successful outcome at Copenhagen'.

India decided to cut down its carbon emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020 in the run up to the Copenhagen summit, shortly after a similar declaration by China.

Asked if the recent announcement on emission reduction indicated flexibility in India's position, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change, Shyam Saran said: "We are not required by the convention to do this but we are doing this in order to facilitate and promote a successful outcome at Copenhagen."

He also made it clear that India would stick to the fundamental elements of its stated position on the issue.

"We should be aware of the fact that there are certain fundamental elements that should not change. In terms of those fundamental principles the Indian stand has been quite consistent," he told PTI.

On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's late decision to attend the summit's finale on December 18, that came after US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's confirmation of their attendance, Saran denied India was acting under pressure.

"We should not be looking as this (PM's visit) as something as done under pressure. This is a good gesture on our part as a contribution to the success of the negotiations," Saran said.

He said India would stick to the fundamental elements of the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and that legally binding quantitative emission reduction targets obligations should be on developed countries not on developing countries.

He also said mitigation action being taken voluntarily by developing countries should be supported by financial resources and technology.

The fundamental elements also include a mechanism for technology transfer as well as a financial mechanism that provides for large-scale mobilisation and deployment for financial resources on a stable and predictable basis.

The 12-day long climate change conference kicked off on Monday with strong calls for action by Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, UN's top scientist R K Pachauri and UN's top climate change official Yvo de Boer.

The negotiators are expected to produce either a legally binding document or at least a document that captures an agreement on key political fronts to tackle climate change that will be worked into a legally binding treaty next year.

Meanwhile, another track of negotiations are being for conducted for extension of Kyoto Protocol into its second term after its first commitment period expires on Dec 31, 2012.