Jairam's offer of report to UNFCC may weaken India’s position

NEW DELHI: Minister for state for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh���s offer for an annual report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change detailing India���s greenhouse gas emissions and measures to reduce it appears to have yet again weakened the position of India negotiators in the run up to Copenhagen.

According to the minister, this new initiative would chart the progress of India���s green action plan and spell out whether India was on track to meet its ���domestic targets��� on curbing emissions growth without being enforceable under a new treaty.

Sources close to the negotiations suggest that Mr Ramesh���s offer could well be the first step towards New Delhi accepting international verifications and monitoring.

India has consistently maintained that the measures it undertakes as part of its domestic measures to counter climate change will not be subject to international verification and reporting, unless the measures have been funded through international financing or use technology received from abroad.

Under the Kyoto Protocol only developed or Annex 1 countries are required to submit annual reports on their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.