‘Danish draft will lead to stalemate’

Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said the Danish proposal urging the world to peak its carbon emissions by 2020 would result in a stalemate in Copenhagen.

Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said the Danish proposal urging the world to peak its carbon emissions by 2020 would result in a stalemate in Copenhagen .

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India had projected that its carbon emissions will not peak before 2030, if the economy grows at an annual rate of 8.5 per cent. The government has estimated that India’s carbon intensity for per unit growth of GDP can fall by 15 to 18 per cent by 2020.

“If the Denmark draft is any indication then we are heading to a dead end. The draft, which is not based on realistic estimations, is totally unacceptable to us,” Ramesh said, after releasing a report on India’s forest cover.

Ruling out any possibility of taking mandatory binding emission cuts, he said to counter the Danish draft, the major emerging economies such as China, South Africa and Brazil have prepared their own draft in Beijing. “The draft clearly stipulates the non-negotiables for us,” he said.

It would be discussed with G-77 nations at a meeting of officials in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

The 10-page draft is a bid of the advanced developing countries to counter the text that will be released by western countries next week as a possible basis for talks at Copenhagen.