Amid growing pessimism for an international deal on climate change, representatives of top polluting nations, including India, began a key meeting here today to find a breakthrough on financing efforts to reduce gas emissions causing global warming.
India is represented by Shyam Saran, Special Envoy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the two-day meeting of world’s 17 biggest and most polluting nations to find a consensus on financing efforts to contain climate change and slash gas emissions that lead to global warming.
According to sources, pressure is growing on the United States to finalise its position before a decisive December conference in Copenhagen in Denmark, meant to cap two years of negotiations on a global climate change treaty.
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But pessimism is mounting that a deal can be struck without policy changes at the highest level.
Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. Scientific panel studying climate change, said “in recent months, the prospects that states will actually agree to anything in Copenhagen are starting to look worse and worse.”
The noted Indian environmentalist made his observation on the Newsweek Web site.
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“With only 50 more days to go before the final talks at Copenhagen, we have to up our game. Britain is determined to throw everything at this because the stakes are so high,” Britain’s Environment Minister Ed Miliband said on Sunday.