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.
How the UN's flagship climate summit lost its direction and what's at stake.
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.
Preparations for Copenhagen is on full swing. Minister Jairam Ramesh met 5 MPs to discuss India's approach.
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.
'India is giving selective traffic rights wherever it makes sense to allocate those traffic rights.'
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.
Some 80 presidents and premiers are expected to attend the final days of the conference on December 17-18. Obama might use his December 9 drop-by at the Copenhagen conference on his way to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway to announce a US offer on financing.
A few interesting and offbeat moments culled from the climate change summit.
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.'
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.
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.
One hundred-and-ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention.
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.
Al Gore committed a blunder at the Copenhagen climate change summit by claiming that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years.
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.
At Copenhagen, attempts to arrive at a fair deal on climate change were deadlocked with countries refusing to budge from their positions on sticky issues like emission cuts. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who is leading the Indian delegation, said the BASIC group -- comprising India, China, South Africa and Brazil -- "is united and we would like to reiterate that we want an equitable and fair agreement to emerge out of the summit".
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.
International community has been building pressure on India after US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced commitments to reduce emissions.
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.
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.
A 35-member team represents India at the world's biggest climate change conference at Copenhagen.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Proposals are being worked upon at the Copenhagen summit to cut the greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, prominent among which is the use of nuclear energy.
With Copenhagen summit providing India and China the much-needed turn around in their relations after a public spat over Arunachal Pradesh, the two sides will try to use External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's April 5 visit to firm up the understanding and not let tensions return to haunt their ties.
After the heat it faced on climate change stand for the Copenhagen summit, the government on Tuesday came under scanner as the Opposition felt that India might come under US pressure on the trade talks in WTO.
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.
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.
India's per capita green house gas (GHG) emission in 2030 will be well below those in the developed countries in 2005, according to a report.
President Obama was seen patting Saran's back after the Copenhagen negotiations, but he characteristically laughed it away when I mentioned it in my TV conversation with him. Saran will be missed in the government, but he will be a welcome addition to the strategic community, which will benefit from his immense experience and innate wisdom
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.
If the decade gone by was one that redefined the contours of global politics in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, it was also a decade that witnessed Indian foreign policy coming into its own, writes Harsh V Pant
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.
Ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference starting on December 7, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh told Parliament on Thursday that India will go with a positive frame of mind, but will not accept any legally binding cuts.
The issue of climate change is going to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which is being attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
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