UN supports India's stand on climate change

The United Nations on Wednesday supported India's position on climate change and pulled up the United States for its failure to do enough to curb the green house gas (GHG) emissions.

"No, I don't think that the US is doing enough. In that manner, not a single industrialised country is doing sufficient to tackle the climate change," Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, told reporters.

He said that with only two years left for negotiations that will end in Copenhagen at the end of 2009 as decided by he recent Bali summit, there was a need for enhanced global cooperation particularly between developed and developing countries in tackling climate change.

De Boer favoured developing countries including India's stand on the fight against climate change and said they cannot be forced to compromise to set emission targets at the cost of their development.

Because this is a global issue we require global help and against this backdrop we can't ignore the developing countries' concern of economic growth and eradication of poverty, the UN official said.

Regarding the UN role in post-Bali conference in tackling climate change, he said, "We dont' want to see what the countries do not want but to see what the countries can do to tackle climate change."

He said there is a need to define measurable, reportable, and verifiable appropriate emission limitation commitments to developed countries while mitigation actions for developing countries.

The second step is "to determine essential actions to adapt to the inevitable impact of climate change and to promote climate resilient development", De Boer said.

He also emphasised mobilisation of necessary financial and technological cooperation to support these actions in a measurable, reportable and verifiable way.