India won't accept legally binding emission cuts: Jairam Ramesh

Do not expect anything much from next month's climate summit in Copenhagen, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Thursday, reiterating that India is not going to accept any legally binding cuts on its greenhouse gas emissions.

Do not expect anything much from next month's climate summit in Copenhagen, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Thursday, reiterating that India is not going to accept any legally binding cuts on its greenhouse gas emissions.

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"Don't expect anything much from Copenhagen. We will stick to our stand," Ramesh told reporters here while releasing the State of World Population Report 2009.

"It seems there is a long haul before we arrive at an international commitment," he added.

The Dec 7-18 summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is anyway unlikely to produce any global deal on combating global warming, because rich countries responsible for the damage have neither promised significant emission cuts nor put on the table significant money to help developing countries fight climate change effects.

Ramesh stated that rather than committing to legally binding cuts internationally, India needs to take proactive steps domestically to tackle climate change.

"We need to be proactive, aggressive and ruthless in our domestic obligations. We need to draw a distinction," he added.