Gurgaon, July 19 (IANS) 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.

He was speaking after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed a conference on climate change at the Green Centre in Gurgaon, a booming business hub adjoining Delhi.

“It is not true to say that India is running away from mitigation (efforts). India has been saying that its primary focus will be adaptation but there are specific areas where we are already in a policy framework that envisages mitigation which means actual reduction of emission,” he said.

“I can say that India already has a national action plan on climate change, which we unveiled last year and that action plan is overwhelmingly oriented towards programmes and projects that will enable India to adapt to the effects of climate change,” the minister added.

He added, “That does not mean that we are oblivious of our responsibilities”.

“Energy efficiency is a very fundamental driver of our economic strategy. India has not got enough credit in international forums for the enormous work it is doing on forestry,” he added.

At the event, Clinton, who began her two-day visit to the national capital after visiting Mumbai, was accompanied by US special envoy on climate change Todd Stern, US ambassador-designate to India Tim Roemer and senior US embassy officials.

The conference was also attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Special Envoy on climate change Shyam Saran.