India can change course of economic growth: UN official

The coming summit of Group of 20 leaders offers an opportunity for India and other members to adopt a greener course of economic growth, says a senior UN official.

The coming summit of Group of 20 (G20) leaders offers an opportunity for India and other members to adopt a greener course of economic growth, a senior UN official said on Monday.

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"This is an opportunity to change the direction of economic growth," Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told international journalists in London.

In remarks made ahead of the April 2 summit in London, he said imports account for 75 per cent of India's crude oil requirements.

"That has a huge impact on the Indian economy, and therefore there's a huge incentive to reduce oil dependence," de Boer said.

The same applied to gas, as gas prices were tied to oil prices, he added.

De Boer hoped countries would use their recovery strategies in the current economic and financial downturn to use energy more efficiently and to switch to clean energy.

He said a number of emerging economies, including China, Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico, had indicated they are willing to take further action to combat climate change, but that they needed international financial and technical support.