India unveils target to slow carbon emissions

NEW DELHI — India will significantly slow the growth of its climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions over the next decade as its economy keeps expanding, an official said Thursday ahead of world climate change talks.

However, the developing country will not accept a binding emissions reduction target, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

Ramesh told Parliament the country plans to reduce by 20 percent to 25 percent the ratio of pollution to production compared with 2005 levels. The announcement comes just days before world leaders are set gather in Denmark to discuss a new climate pact.

As one of the world's largest populations with a fast-growing economy, India has been under pressure to bring its own emissions-reduction plan to the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen following pledges by the U.S. and China — the world's top two emitters of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming — to reduce their own pollution.

India ranks fifth in world carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for 4.7 percent of the world's emissions, according to Ramesh.

To reach its objective, the Indian government will introduce mandatory fuel efficiency standards in 2011, enforce building codes for greater energy efficiency, and deploy cleaner technology in coal-fired power plants, Ramesh said.

India had previously announced a plan to build a massive 20,000 megawatt solar energy facility by 2022.

Scientists warn of potentially catastrophic climate change if average global temperatures rise more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) from preindustrial levels. To prevent that, greenhouse gas emissions should peak within the next few years and then rapidly decline by mid-century, according to the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Negotiators in Copenhagen will seek a new agreement to curb emissions of greenhouse gases. The key question is how to divide the responsibility for reducing emissions globally, with developing countries saying they should not be forced to commit to binding targets.

China's pledge last week to cut its own "carbon intensity" by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020. President Barack Obama also announced a provisional commitment last week for the United States, pledging to reduce absolute emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020.

The Chinese target means emissions will continue to grow as its economy expands, but at nearly half the rate they would have otherwise.