EU wants India to stick to CO2 reduction target

NEW DELHI: The European Union (EU) on Tuesday asked India to commit to the world that it will not deviate from the target the country has voluntarily set for cutting carbon emissions.

The European Commission's delegation to the country said the nature of the commitment they seek from India ��� political or legally binding ��� would depend on negotiations with India. EU and India will hold a high level summit in November, in which climate change is likely to be discussed.

If India makes a political commitment and doesn't meet the emission targets, it will be a matter of shame, but if a legally binding target is not met, it might invite sanctions. India has so far said it may not take binding targets, although it wants the rest of the world to take its efforts in emission cuts seriously. "We want the Indian government to implement what it has voluntarily adopted," said Ole Lonsmann Poulsen, Denmark's Ambassador to India.

EU also wants India to be part of its global initiative of climate change financing, it has recently prepared. According to the proposal, developing countries would need E100 billion a year to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Of this, they have to find two-fifth internally, another two-fifth from the global carbon credit markets and the rest from international public finance, said Daniele Smadja, ambassador and head of European Commission's delegation to India.

EU is internally discussing the proposal, which is open to modification, said Ms Smadja. The contribution of individual nations may be based on their level of emission and capacity to pay. A developing nation can be a contributor as well as recipient at the same time, she added.

The proposal will be debated at the UN summit in December in Copenhagen. EU representatives, however, did not have a solution ready on how to facilitate transfer of clean and efficient-energy technology from developed countries to developing countries, as their intellectual property rights are with private corporations, not with governments.

Making legally binding commitments may put countries without clean technologies in a difficult spot. Some of the steps India is taking to cut emissions, include preparing a fuel-efficiency standard by 2011 and mandatory building codes for energy-efficient buildings by 2011.