By Joydeep Gupta
Copenhagen, Dec 6 (IANS) Committing itself to reducing its emissions intensity like China, India comes to Copenhagen as an international player that is ready to be “part of the solution” to global warming. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the the Dec 7-18 climate summit with US President Barack Obama and over 80 world leaders with the likelihood increasing of a consensus on a new global deal.

“We’re going to Copenhagen in a positive frame of mind, prepared to be flexible. We want a comprehensive and equitable agreement. We are realistic enough to know such an agreement may not materialise, but we will work with like minded countries, with China, and with others, to ensure there is a comprehensive and equitable arrangement,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

India, ranked fourth in the list of the world’s 15 top polluters, has announced it will reduce its emission intensity by 20-25 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level. New Delhi had been under pressure from the industrialised world to do something about its rising emissions, especially due to moves on emissions by China, Brazil and Indonesia. China in fact has announced a 40-45 percent emissions intensity reduction.

“The prime minister’s instructions to me was, India has not caused the problem of global warming, but try and make sure india is part of the solution; be constructive, be proactive,” Ramesh said.

“Having global aspirations and assuming global responsibilities are two sides of the same coin,” the minister held.

Analysts from the Planning Commission, who came up with the 20-25 percent emission intensity reduction, told IANS it would basically require implementation of India’s solar energy plan, making vehicle emission caps mandatory and giving incentives to energy-efficient buildings.

So India is going to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit with nothing to be apologetic about and everything to gain, officials said.

Going by the latest draft proposal from host country Denmark, there is an attempt to instead talk of a date when emerging economies will peak their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. That is not acceptable to India, China or any developing country, many of whom have got together to table an alternate draft that envisages industrialised countries reducing their GHG emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020.

“India will not accept a legally binding emission reduction cut and it will not accept a peaking date on its emissions,” Ramesh said in parliament days before leaving for Denmark. .

The main sticking points in the international negotiations remain, according to diplomats from developed and developing countries who have already arrived here. Will the industrialised countries commit significant emissions cuts? Will they commit significant funds to developing countries to deal with climate change? Will a way be found to transfer green technologies cheaply to developing countries?

There is some agreement on associated points, such as how to provide financial incentives to arrest deforestation so that trees can continue to absorb carbon.

But no one is seriously expecting what the summit was originally mandated to do — come up with a list of emission reduction targets by industrialised countries after 2012, and get firm commitments on the amount of money these countries would pay to deal with a problem almost totally of their creation, diplomats said.

Meanwhile, climate change continue to plague the world affecting farm output, making droughts, floods and storms more frequent and more severe and raising the sea level. India is among the countries worst affected, while Ramesh said it is the “most vulnerable”.

Climate change is being caused by an increase in the concentration of GHGs, mainly carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere due to unchecked industrial activities and an ever-increasing population of vehicles.

(Joydeep Gupta can be contacted at joydeep.g@ians.in)