India and European Union seem to be on a collision course with New Delhi saying that it will only stick to its voluntary domestic pledge on carbon emission cuts even as the 27-member block insists the stand is not acceptable.
As Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan landed in Durban for the climate talks, the European Union said that it had not called India a deal breaker but made it clear that it expected New Delhi to take on carbon emission cuts under a legally binding treaty.
The second week started today with major issues like the future of the Kyoto Protocol and the design of the annual $ 100 billion Green Climate Fund unresolved.
The EU wants all countries to be bound under a legally binding treaty, which will require “major emitters” like India to accept carbon emission cuts.
“We have not called India anything like that”, said Connie Hedegaard, the EU commissioner.
“However we need reassurance that if we lay down a bridge to the future then some others will follow us...not now...we understand that...but soon”, she told reporters.
India has said that it’s a “major economy” but not a “major emitter” and New Delhi has maintained that eradicating poverty remains its top priority.
For now, India has said that it will only stick to its voluntary domestic pledge that can be subjected to international monitoring.
Ms. Hedegaard, however, said that voluntary pledges are not acceptable.
“It must be so that whether you are big or small country, whether you are rich or not so rich-whatever each of us pledge must have the same kind of legal value,” she said.
Ms. Hedegaard also said “timelines” are necessary.
