A few interesting and offbeat moments culled from the climate change summit.
US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao have already expressed their intention to attend the 15th conference of signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change slated to kick off on December 9.
How the UN's flagship climate summit lost its direction and what's at stake.
Alarmed by the confusion created by the public expression of divergent opinions by his key advisors on climate change, the prime minister summoned Saran and Ramesh and asked them to put their heads together and come forward with an agreed text that would reflect both their concerns, a senior government official confirmed.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday India would continue to work with like-minded people to make the Copenhagen climate change conference a success.
One hundred-and-ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention.
With less than two months to go for the climate-change summit in Copenhagen, India has resolved to re-brand itself as a deal-maker.
"From the Indian point of view, if I were a politician, I'd continue to play it hard," explains Mike Hulme, professor at the University of East Anglia's prestigious climate change programme. "From a rational perspective, India has to do what's best for its people."
Challenges posed by climate change hit centre stage in 2009 which saw the government doing a flip-flop ahead of the crucial Copenhagen summit even as the Opposition and experts alleged that India succumbed to pressure from rich nations on emission cuts.
The divergent utterances by environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh and prime minister's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran have created a good deal of ambiguity within and outside the country over the government's strategy for these talks.
The overwhelming feeling at the end of COP 27 was that despite decades of meetings and landmark accords, like the Paris Agreement, the world was still not doing enough to slow the climate crisis, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Al Gore committed a blunder at the Copenhagen climate change summit by claiming that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years.
The developing countries fear that the mysterious draft prepared by Denmark would be sprung upon hours before the high-level segment of climate talks begins, making it difficult for any world leader to oppose.
A top US delegate at Copenhagen summit denied the possibility that hacked e-mails had made the case for sceptics stronger and said the incident would not affect the fate of climate change bill in the American Senate.
Global warming could cause the death of a quarter of a million children next year as a result of natural disasters causing an increase in injuries, water-borne diseases and starvation.
Ban Ki-moon said he is encouraged that more than 105 heads of state and government are committed to participate in the meeting of world leaders on the 18th of this month.
Senior journalist Darryl D'Monte reports exclusively for Rediff.com from Paris.
With 'Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his way to the airport' and the 'Chinese skipping negotiations', US President Barack Obama said on Thursday the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit was on the brink of a complete collapse, before he decided to take a chance to give it a final push.
Preparations for Copenhagen is on full swing. Minister Jairam Ramesh met 5 MPs to discuss India's approach.
'It is absolutely critical on pure economic terms, but it's also smart politically, because a recent survey reported that 73 percent of Indians view climate change as the most pressing global concern,' US Secretary of State John Kerry tells a high-power audience in Washington, DC.
"Climate change is a major global challenge. But it is not of our making," Modi said.
'The Paris Conference is a decisive meeting on climate change.' 'Negotiating an agreement between 196 countries is indeed a challenge.' 'If we go beyond 2°C, the consequences will be extremely difficult to deal with.'The poor are the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.'
So far, major emitters are far from curbs on emissions on a scale outlined by the IPCC.
Criticising the Copenhagen Climate Summit for being "limited to a group of countries", Bolivia will organise an alternative international talks in April on the issue.
India is likely to announce its targets for the Paris deal by September-end.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the Copenhagen Summit on climate change on December 18, reflecting the seriousness attached by India to the meet where it is expected to play a crucial role.
A 35-member team represents India at the world's biggest climate change conference 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.
Experts have challenged UN to produce convincing 'observational evidence' to establish the human-caused global warming.
Speaking at an event in New Delhi, jointly held by National Thermal Power Corporation and the Confederation of Indian Industry, he added that developing countries should also not expect any financial or technical assistance from developed nations to help reduce their carbon footprint.
A key UN climate change summit that will be attended by nearly 150 world leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicks off on Monday under the shadow of the deadly Paris terror attack to try to craft a long-term deal to limit carbon emissions.
Seeking a constructive approach to move forward in the global efforts to combat climate change, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that India is willing to do more provided there are 'credible' arrangements from rich nations on financial support and technology transfers.
The Climate Change conference in Copenhagen last year yielded the contentious and non-binding Copenhagen Accord.
Government on Friday said it will not compromise India's interest at the Copenhagen climate change summit, but a dissatisfied opposition walked out in the Rajya Sabha.
In defining a new and nuanced stance on India's negotiating position at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have left some at home dissatisfied but his perspective appears to have been defined by a larger view of how India should deal with global challenges.
Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says that Sino-Indian cooperation at the Copenhagen climate summit is the sign of things to come.
Even if the leaders can't negotiate a binding agreement, many countries hope to work out commitments to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions and provide assistance to poorer countries likely to be hardest hit by the effects of global warming.
A controversy -- described as climategate -- has broken out regarding the authenticity of the data provided by the prestigious East Anglia University of the United Kingdom that formed the basis of the United Nations report on climate change.
As the negotiations in Copenhagen appeared to have entered a deadlock, the Obama Administration has insisted on "transparency" of any operational agreement on climate change at the ongoing summit meeting in the Denmark Capital.
The US President is scheduled to arrive in Copenhagen early Friday morning local time. Obama will attend the morning plenary session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference and is expected to deliver brief address on the issue.
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