A few interesting and offbeat moments culled from the climate change summit.
How the UN's flagship climate summit lost its direction and what's at stake.
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.
One hundred-and-ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday that UN climate summit in Copenhagen was 'held to ransom' by a small group of countries, as his climate secretary accused China of hijacking the talks to block a legally binding treaty.
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.
The row broke out after the draft text of a deal allegedly prepared by the Danish government emerged, which campaigners claimed favoured rich countries and risked squeezing poor nations out of the negotiations.
Coinciding with the Copenhagen meet, India is considering a legislation incorporating all its action plans and national missions aimed at reducing dependence on coal based fuels.
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.
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.
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.
Preparations for Copenhagen is on full swing. Minister Jairam Ramesh met 5 MPs to discuss India's approach.
Al Gore committed a blunder at the Copenhagen climate change summit by claiming that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years.
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.
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.
Terming the outcome of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen as an abject failure, scientists and environmental groups have blamed the US and China for blocking a legally binding treaty on reducing global warming.
India has said that developed countries should "not expect miracles" at the key Copenhagen climate summit in December and the goals sought for emission controls should be more "realistic."
India has chosen to count itself in that centre, a choice that clearly unhinges it from the South. It is also a choice, the consequences of which will be difficult to undo, going forward.
Negotiations to hammer out an 'equitable and fair' deal on climate change were deadlocked on Wednesday, even as hundreds of climate activists were tear-gassed, beaten up and detained for trying to break into the UN-sponsored Climate Summit in Copenhagen and establish a 'people's assembly', accusing the 193 participating countries of not trying to reach a new deal to combat the menace.
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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at Copenhagen on Friday morning to participate in the concluding session of the Climate Summit amid a ray of hope for a political statement on combating climate change.
India and China seemed to be on the same side at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, while the United States had to gatecrash to join hands.
The climate innovation centres are aimed at identifying and developing local technology requirements and also for facilitating dissemination of current technologies.
Pledging to reduce its emissions intensity by 20-25 per cent as done by China, India led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ready to play a leadership role at the global climate summit at Copenhagen slated from Tuesday. Singh will join United States President Barack Obama and over 100 world leaders at the summit with the likelihood increasing of a consensus on a new global deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires 2012.
Confusion prevailed over some reports from Beijing which quoted environment and forests minister, Jairam Ramesh, saying India will voluntarily reduce its carbon intensity by 20-25 per cent.
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.
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.
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.
Serious differences have emerged between India and Australia over the direction of talks at the climate summit in Copenhagen with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh lashing out at Canberra, dubbing it as an "ayatollah" for its one-track approach.
The draft of a potential declaration at the climate summit in Copenhagen was almost ready, diplomats said on Friday, even as India and other developing nations suspected the overnight negotiation was an eyewash and the document prepared was a rehash of the earlier Danish text.
Ahead of the key climate summit here, representatives of the G-77 group of developing nations and China spent two days in a conference room in Copenhagen, discussing their strategy for the meeting and speculating on possible outcomes and their position on specific issues.
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.
The average global temperature between January and October has been 0.68 degrees Celsius higher than the 20th century's average global temperature of 14.1 degree C.
Amid no signs of a breakthrough, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the outcome of the Copenhagen climate summit may fall short of expectations and warned against any dilution of the principles of UNFCCC, particularly of 'common but differentiated' responsibilities.
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.
Experts have challenged UN to produce convincing 'observational evidence' to establish the human-caused global warming.
Encouraged by India and China's decision to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, US President Barack Obama is hopeful that an agreement could be reached at the ongoing climate conference in Copenhagen.
A 35-member team represents India at the world's biggest climate change conference at Copenhagen.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh along with his counterparts from Brazil, South Africa and China walked out to meet Connie Hedegaard, the Danish President of the COP, and convey their protest.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances