Under his leadership, India launched the National Action Plan on Climate Change, passed the landmark Forest Rights Act to protect the rights of tribal communities and established the National Green Tribunal to safeguard the environment through swift legal action.
The main G-77 concern was to get the developed countries to recognise their historical culpability and primary responsibility.
The climate accord secured for India a place at the high table in recognition of its importance for the rest of the world, says Subir Roy.
"There has never been a United Nations climate conference, be it the one in Bali or Poznan, that has been as disastrously organised as this one in Denmark," fumed Sunita Narain, the director of an Indian NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment.
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.
One hundred-and-ninety-two countries have signed the climate change convention.
Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says that Sino-Indian cooperation at the Copenhagen climate summit is the sign of things to come.
Experts have challenged UN to produce convincing 'observational evidence' to establish the human-caused global warming.
With three days left to seal a deal at Copenhagen, climate change champion Al Gore has called on developed and developing countries to reach "compromises" on their key differences for the sake of future generations.
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.
On Monday, the Conference will kick off in the Danish capital, and in two weeks, negotiators from over 100 countries are expected to produce a document that captures agreement on key political fronts to tackle climate change that will be worked into a legally binding treaty early next year.
Preparations for Copenhagen is on full swing. Minister Jairam Ramesh met 5 MPs to discuss India's approach.
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.
Pushing for a legally binding substantive outcome at the Copenhagen climate change meet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said India is willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emission reduction or limiting temperature increase, if it is accompanied by an equitable burden-sharing paradigm. He denounced attempts by some developed nations to junk the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
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.
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."
Some of the world's biggest polluters, the US, China, European Union and India, have reiterated their previous pledges of cutting emissions by 2020 that were widely regarded as weak, especially the 17 per cent reduction of carbon emissions from 2020 levels proposed by the US.
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.
"One of the significant issues when the Secretary (of State) arrived (in Copenhagen) on Thursday morning and worked through these issues during the day on Thursday and the President on Friday was in fact to make sure that there was a significant, verification aspect to the accord," assistant secretary of state for public affairs P J Crowley said.
A report released at the Copenhagen climate change conference ) has listed ten species likely to suffer huge losses due to global warming.This makes climate change an "additional and major threat."
A day into the Copenhagen climate change meetings, the Union ministry of new and renewable energy has indicated that it has no definite roadmap to implement its ambitious target of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022.
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.
India should accept equal per capita emission quotas.
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.
Al Gore committed a blunder at the Copenhagen climate change summit by claiming that the Arctic could be completely ice-free in five years.
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.
Indians are born conspiracy theorists, okay? We live on conspiracy theories and we die as conspiracy theorists. Conspiring of theories is our karma! The fact of the matter is that climate change is an important issue with a larger development impact. It is also a strategic issue. For us, India's interest is paramount. Nothing else matters.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
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 54-page Paris agreement draft had been scaled down to 50.
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