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.
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.
COP 21 is about how much carbon space is left and who gets how much of that space
The day after tens of thousands of protestors took to the street to express frustration over the deadlock at the ongoing United Nations climate negotiations, a lull hung over this city, with the conference site, the Bella Centre, closed to business. Yet, it was the kind of lull that holds within it the promise of an impending storm.
"Climate change is a major global challenge. But it is not of our making," Modi said.
The G77 and China have reacted angrily over the leaked Danish draft proposal for an agreement on the climate change that puts mitigation commitments, calls on peaks years for developing countries as well as endorsing the IPR regime.
The climate conference on Saturday came out with an ambitious final draft that will commit USD 100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries.
Developed and developing countries are very different and they are different from variety of reasons on climate change.
Macron held a tete-a-tete with Modi before the delegation-level talks at the Elysee Palace - the official residence of the French president.
Barely a week ahead of the UN meet on climate change in Copenhagen, India on Monday made it clear that there will be no compromise on its position on carbon emission cuts and will preserve its economic interest at all cost.
The tense atmosphere between India and China has changed for good after the Copenhagen summit, claimed a top-level source dealing with the Chinese in Indian government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-day visit to Germany, Denmark and France from May 2 to 4 to further expand bilateral ties in diverse areas.
'If Asia does become a Chinese dominated space, it will not only be because India failed to get its economic act together but also because it did not stand up for its democratic credentials,' warns Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary.
Amidst growing concern that India and the United States are on a collision course over reduction of carbon emissions in the run-up to the climate change conference in Copenhagen later this year, India's Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar said that for a country like India with a severe energy shortage, absolute reductions of emissions is extremely challenging and well nigh impossible.
Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday virtually backed the non-governmental organisation Greenpeace in the backdrop of an Intelligence Bureau report warning that the NGO is a threat to the country's economic growth.
The Special US Envoy on Climate Change, Todd Stern, in a letter informed the UN Framework Conventional of Climate Change Secretariat about the Obama administration's decision in this regard, which is part of the voluntary commitment made by economies including India and China during the Copenhagen Climate Change summit.
In a statement, Modi said he will be visiting Berlin on May 2 at the invitation of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, following which he will travel to Copenhagen on May 3-4 at the invitation of his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen to hold bilateral engagements and also participate in the Second India-Nordic Summit.
Attacking the so-called 'climategate' affair as a bid to undermine the capability of his organisation, Rajendra Pachauri said at the opening ceremony that those who had hacked into the e-mails of top climate scientists were out to discredit the scientific assessment made of threats to the climate.
Being one of the most ecologically modernized state in the world, Japan heads to Copenhagen with its ambition of green leadership in the post Kyoto regime. Japan has nurtured this ambition through smart diplomatic endeavors, ecological restructuring of policies and technological innovations.
Chairperson of Ad Hoc Working group on Kyoto Protocol, John Ashe, said parallel negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol are being carried on at the conference and will be wrapped on December 15 after which a report will be presented.
India and the other BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa and China) have rightly decided to forego any funding that comes from the Fast Start Climate Finance pledges since smaller countries are in dire need of it.
Perhaps this is the first time in the history of the UN that India is part of a consensus in a small group, which is being disowned by a majority of the developing countries. It is no great consolation that we are in the company of three other major developing countries, says TP Sreenivasan
India on Tuesday favoured a legally binding climate change agreement from the developed countries, saying a political pact will not be 'enforceable', even as it asserted that its voluntary reduction of carbon emission intensity was not announced under pressure.
American Singer Terra Naomi performed in Srinagar on Monday evening to create awareness about the adverse effects of climate change on Kashmir.
The Bombay Natural History Society and over 100 other NGOs across the world, which are partners of the UK-based BirdLife International, have stressed on replacing the 'wasteful and energy-intensive lifestyles with holistic, balanced and energy-saving lifestyles.'
A survey of 40 firms suggests that there's money to be made fighting climate change.
At least 100 supporters of jailed former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed have staged a unique underwater protest seeking his immediate release.
Rejecting allegations that India has succumbed to US pressure at the historic meet, Rajni Ranjan Rashmi, joint director in environment ministry, maintained that the way the direction of the talks were going at the Danish capital, India was expecting nothing but equity.
To ensure that the nearly two-week Summit, the biggest on climate, is as environment-friendly as the Centre, the organisers have ensured that paper, plastic, metal, wood and glass used are recycled to the highest degree possible by an EMAS-certified local waste management company.
In an interview with Suman Guha Mozumder, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh says a little less superiority and a little more humility on the part of India will serve us very well in the future.
Whatever little was happening on emission reductions through the carbon trading mechanism has been halted by the collapse of the carbon market, in the wake of the global economic recession.
'I think a little less superiority, a little more humility on the part of India will serve us very well in the future,' says Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
"Sir, my only purpose has been to open up windows of flexibility for India because the world is changing; different countries are taking different positions."
The rich world continues to give lectures on energy conservation. But what is it doing itself?
Trump's diatribe against India in his speech on the Paris Agreement is hard to explain, especially when a Modi-Trump meeting is supposedly on the cards, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
We lost the gains of Rio and Kyoto in Copenhagen and Paris, but it would have been worse, if any mandatory restraints were imposed on our green house gas emissions, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Both countries have denied that enhanced cooperation among them is aimed at curbing growing Chinese influence in the region, but Hatoyama's hurriedly arranged visit to New Delhi indicates that he wants to keep the two major democracies actively engaged
The US would offer technological help to world's biggest polluter China to enable it achieve its target of emission reduction, a top official said on Thursday, acknowledging that China, India and Brazil have made significant commitments at Copenhagen.
'A lack of agreement at Copenhagen may not be suicidal for the US,' he said, 'but for a country like India, it is absolutely critical to have an agreement at Copenhagen,' says Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, is among 19 members chosen by UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing tasked with mobilising funds pledged during the Copenhagen meet to tackle global warming.
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