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.
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."
The group was constituted by the Planning Commission to achieve 20-25 per cent reduction in emission intensity by 2010 on 2005 levels as was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year at Copenhagen climate meet.
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.
After hectic negotiations over climate change ended at Copenhagen, India is now gearing up to fight a battle to prevent bio-piracy and ensure access to bio-resources and their benefit sharing at Nagoya meet in Japan slated for October.
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.
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.
Hours before the prime minister's departure for Copenhagen, a cargo van brushed against the PM's special aircraft, Air India One, causing a dent. Sources said the PM was not in the aircraft when the incident took place
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.
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.
Before the crucial United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen during December 2009, India is strengthening its argument to avoid any rigorous capping on its carbon emissions. Here, Minister of State Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh explains how forest cover of India will help.
The prime accused in the infamous Purulia arms-dropping case, Kim Davy, is likely to be extradited from Denmark by July-end and will serve his prison term in India if proven guilty. Government sources said Denmark has informed authorities here that the 47-year-old Davy, alias Niels Holck, will be extradited within next two to three months following completion of the legal process and after India replies to certain queries of the Nordic country.
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.
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.
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.
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.'
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.
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.
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.
Ahead of the key climate summit in Copenhagen, representatives of the G-77 group of developing nations and China spent two days, discussing their strategy for the meeting and speculating on possible outcomes and their position on specific issues.
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.
Jairam Ramesh will leave for Rio de Janeiro on Friday to attend the meeting of BASIC group, comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China.
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.
A survey of 40 firms suggests that there's money to be made fighting climate change.
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
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.
Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner has been charged with violence after an incident last month with a Copenhagen taxi driver, the driver's lawyer said on Thursday.
Ashvin Dayal, Rockefeller Foundation managing director for Asia, says there is an urgent need to make investment for the safety of Asian cities from an environmental point of view given the rising economic activities in that part of the world.
Ashvin Dayal, Rockefeller Foundation managing director for Asia, says there is an urgent need to make investment for the safety of Asian cities from an environmental point of view given the rising economic activities in that part of the world.
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
Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said India will forward its domestic goals on climate change as its action plan under the Copenhagen Accord to the Conference of Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
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.
The real winners will be those who best align social, environmental, human and financial aspects of a companies' work, says Rajni Bakshi.
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.
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.
The government has proposed that all Special Economic Zones should meet at least 25 per cent of their lighting needs through solar energy, a move that will go a long way in making SEZs green, even as consensus eludes climate change talks in Copenhagen.
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