‘India, China opposed to any pact limiting growth’
Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh has said though India and China have varying greenhouse gas emission levels, both the Asian giants were opposed to any global pact that would limit their economic growth.
“China’s emissions are about four times India’s emissions. So by no means can China and India be equated in the level of greenhouse gas emissions,” Ramesh said at a seminar on India-China relations organised here by Communist Party of China and the Congress party.
“Even though the levels of emissions are dramatically different, we certainly have a commanality of interest in ensuring that there is no international agreement that puts an artificial barrier on our growth prospects,” said Mr Ramesh. China is the world’s leading emitter accounting for about 22 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions followed by US (21 per cent), the EU (13 per cent) and India at about 5 per cent. India and China have been opposing the developed nations’ move to impose a tax on countries that fail to abide by a binding climate treaty as the two growing economies will have to take emission control measures.
The minister asserted that even under the most aggressive growth estimates over the next ten years, India’s share in the GHG emissions will not exceed more than 8-9 per cent by 2020. He tried to clarify that despite the insistence of developed countries, taking binding carbon emission cuts was out of question. He said India and China along with other Basic members such as Brazil and South Africa have maintained this position at the UN summit on climate change at Copenhagen in Denmark last year.
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