The Republicans' call came against the backdrop of the climate gate scandal, wherein hackers gained access to documents of the climate research centre of the UK-based East Anglia University and leaked confidential data, including thousands of e-mails and documents between scientists in UK and US over the past 10 years which led to accusations that researchers had exaggerated the crisis.
Climate Challenge India, a climate change mobilisation effort by Bangalore-based NGO Center for Social Markets has produced a film titled In Good Company: Corporate India and the Climate Challenge that partly tries to answer the question but also raises some red flags on the issue. The film was launched in May at the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen. As CSM's founder and climate change campaigner Malini Mehra explains that the film was a labour of love.
"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."
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.
Laying out a road map for reducing the "trust deficit," between the two blocs on climate negotiations, Ramesh said there must be some visible triggers that get activated very soon to ensure that Cancun does not repeat Copenhagen.
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.
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.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and to Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, the industry body has outlined its view on the climate change negotiations based on Indian industry's feedback and called for the prime minister to urge the developed world to provide technology transfer and funds to help mitigate the crisis.
The Accord was finalised at a meeting between the heads of India, China, South Africa, Brazil and the US in Copenhagen last Friday.
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.
Sending encouraging signal to the rest of the world, a bipartisan group of powerful US Senators on Friday agreed on a framework for a climate change bill.
The CPI said there was neither any agreement over technology transfer nor any commitment for additional financial resources to fund adaptation and mitigation in the developing countries. In a similar statement, the Communist Party of India-Marxist Politburo said on Sunday: "The political leaders who gathered in Copenhagen have failed their people by not delivering an effective and equitable climate change agreement."
India has said it was under pressure from some developing nations to accept the Copenhagen Accord prepared at the UN meet on climate change last month at the Danish Capital.
Consensus eluded negotiators on Wednesday to stitch an equitable and just accord on climate change in the last lap before the summit on Friday with no headway being made to iron out sticking points on carbon emission cuts, mitigation targets and long-term financing.
The Indian delegation is led by Special Envoy to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Shyam Saran. The first meeting since the leaders of the Major Economies met in L'Aquila, Italy on July 9, the two-day meeting would be chaired by Michael Froman, the Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs.
Negotiators from 193 countries began nearly two-week long conference, the biggest on climate, to try and reach an agreement on combating the menace amidst hope that a deal was within reach with countries like India announcing voluntary reduction in carbon intensity, on Monday.
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.
Jairam Ramesh will leave for Rio de Janeiro on Friday to attend the meeting of BASIC group, comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China.
Indian environment minister Jairam Ramesh said he was 'happy' at the development and believed it to be the result of 'sustained pressure brought to bear by developing countries'.
New text is "ambitious and balanced"
After tough negotiations, the first official draft at the climate meet in Copenhagen has been firmed up which says that developing nations shall take appropriate mitigation actions with the support of finance and technology from the developed world, a key demand advocated by India.
So far, major emitters are far from curbs on emissions on a scale outlined by the IPCC.
As the talks for a global climate change deal was poised to go down the wire, India on Wednesday had something to cheer as the second draft for an agreement incorporates a key demand of New Delhi, relating to emissions from deforestation and funding for mitigation projects.
'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.
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.
Prior to the meeting of over 110 world leaders at the climate change conference, Singh is scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in a bid to consolidate position of the developing countries for the plenary.
India is likely to announce its targets for the Paris deal by September-end.
Major nations in the group are concerned over several drafts of a potential agreement that are floating around including the Danish proposal, which is yet to be fully disclosed.
He described how India had negotiations with US for almost 36 hours over the words of the Accord.
Buffeted by allegations of sexual harassment, R K Pachauri on Tuesday quit as chairman of United Nation's prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose meeting here he has avoided.
Senior journalist Darryl D'Monte reports exclusively for Rediff.com from Paris.
'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.'
As a special gesture, Frederiksen received Modi at the airport. He arrived in Copenhagen from Germany.
Environment minister Jairam Ramesh said a major achievement was that it was a 'non-legally binding' accord and negotiations would continue under the Kyoto Protocol and Bali Action Plan to be completed at the end of 2010.
"All the G77 and China members have made it very clear that they are not envisaging that there could be any kind of uncooked paper which would go up to the heads of state and the government," said Shyam Saran.
The two leaders discussed the Ukraine crisis and several regional and global issues including increasing trade relations and cooperation in the field of mitigating the impact of climate change during their bilateral talks at the Danish Prime Minister's official residence in Mareinborg near Copenhagen.
The new agreement, will be negotiated and once it is sealed it will also be judged
India is actively involved in reducing carbon emissions.
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