Home to nearly 1.2 billion people, India is the only major greenhouse gas emitting nation yet to announce figures on reining in its carbon output, with just over a week to go until UN climate talks start in Copenhagen.

"India is willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emissions reductions or limiting temperature increase but this must be accompanied by an equitable burden sharing paradigm," Singh said in a speech, the text of which was released by his office in New Delhi.

Singh gave no indication of any figures India might propose, or whether it would be an absolute cut, like those Europe and Japan have on the table, or a proportional cut like that offered by China.

India's CNN-IBN and Times Now TV networks reported Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was set to offer overall cuts of between 20 and 25 percent. But a ministry official said she was unaware of any such commitment.

Singh was speaking in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, where he was attending a Commonwealth summit.

India has been under pressure to pledge emission curbs after announcements earlier in the week by China and the United States, the world's top two sources of greenhouse gases.

The country, one of the top five carbon emitters, is considered critical to any progress at the UN-sponsored talks, which begin December 7.

China has said it will cut the level of its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels -- in effect an energy efficiency pledge.

The Hindustan Times quoted Ramesh, who was in Beijing for climate change talks, as saying Friday that India could not "sweep aside the fact" that peers such as China and Brazil had set out emission cut targets.

"It has implications for us. We can't run away from it," Ramesh said. "There is a lot of room for reducing emission intensity in India" without affecting economic growth, he added.

US President Barack Obama is to go to Copenhagen armed with a long-stated offer to cut US emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

But the White House has said Obama will also lay out a longer-term plan for a 30 percent reduction of US emissions from 2005 levels by 2025, a 42 percent reduction by 2030 and an 83 percent cut by 2050.

India has refused to accept binding emission cuts that it says could slow its growth and has instead highlighted mitigation measures such as solar power.

Singh has vowed not to let per capita emissions exceed those of industrialised countries, but studies released in September found that India's total emissions were likely to triple by 2031.

India says rich countries historically responsible for global warming should be responsible for funding mitigation measures in developing countries.

Singh called for a "comprehensive" outcome in Copenhagen covering the contentious issues of financing mitigation, adaptation and technology for poor nations most vulnerable to climate change.

"Science must not trump equity. Climate change action based on the perpetuation of poverty will simply not be sustainable," he said, adding he welcomed a proposal by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to launch a 10-billion-dollar fund to help developing countries tackle global warming.

The Copenhagen summit aims to produce an accord to slash emissions blamed for global warming.

earlier related report
China to keep pumping out carbon despite climate pledge
Beijing (AFP) Nov 27, 2009 - China is touting its carbon-limiting plan as a "major contribution" to the struggle against climate change, but its already massive greenhouse gas emissions will still rise for years to come.

The United States and Europe have announced plans to actually cut emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, but China said Thursday it would seek only to reduce emissions as a percentage of the economy.

That means that China's world-leading emissions of carbon dioxide will continue to soar along with its fast-expanding economy, albeit at a slower pace, experts said.

"We think it represents a relatively small move away from business-as-usual for China and still implies quite a large growth in emissions," said Nick Mabey, chief executive of British environmental think tank E3G.

He said that "actual emissions -- instead of doubling -- will grow around 50 percent".

However, others believe emissions will grow by an even greater margin, based on Chinese economic growth rates of 8-12 percent in recent years.

"That means under the target, emissions will 'only' double," Frank Jotzo, deputy director of the Climate Change Institute at Australian National University, said.

China said that by 2020, it would cut the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 40 to 45 percent compared to 2005 levels. That is essentially a pledge of greater energy efficiency.

With electricity demand soaring, China relies on carbon-belching coal to generate about 70 percent of its energy needs.

Beijing had previously announced plans to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels, and the new plan looks like merely an extension of those pledges, Jotzo said.

Still, while environmentalists called for more, China's announcement was broadly welcomed as a good start for the huge developing country in the run-up to Copenhagen climate talks next month.

China maintains its developing status exempts it from emissions cuts because its overriding goal is to reduce poverty among its 1.3 billion people.

But political concerns also prevent a deeper commitment.

China's top climate change negotiator Xie Zhenhua stressed Thursday the nation's "primary task" was economic growth.

The communist leadership, facing a gaping rich-poor divide and increasing social unrest, says it needs to maintain a minimum of eight percent GDP growth each year to maintain stability.

"Everyone would like to see China commit to an absolute limit but ... it doesn't want to limit its growth prospects," said Tom Grieder, Asia energy analyst at IHS Global Insight in London.

Xie declined to give a timeframe for when emissions would peak or estimate how much they would grow by 2020.

But even meeting the 2020 goals will be difficult, Greenpeace China climate campaigner Yang Ailun told AFP.

"(The target) means China will have to tackle its over-dependency on coal," Yang said, arguing that China needs an "energy revolution".

She called for a more aggressive push on renewable energy and a hefty carbon tax to discourage consumption -- something Beijing has been loathe to do out of concern for the economic impact.

China said it would push development of renewables, energy-saving technologies and nuclear power, and make unspecified adjustments to "fiscal, tax, and pricing" policies to meet the 2020 targets.

But observers noted that Beijing faces difficulty implementing nationwide initiatives due to vested interests, local resistance and widespread graft. And several existing energy-conservation initiatives have already foundered.

"That's the biggest hurdle. Many local officials don't do what the central government says," Grieder said.

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