Developed nations must cut emissions to tolerable levels: PM

In the run-up to the Copehnagen summit, India today asked rich nations to make "serious" efforts to bring down their greenhouse gas emissions to tolerable levels and asserted that developing countries "cannot and will not" compromise on development.

"If developed countries make a serious effort to bring their per capita emissions within tolerable levels, they will unleash large resources directed towards research," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said inaugurating a high level conference on Climate Change here.

Making it clear that there was no shift in India's stand on climate change negotiations, he said developing countries "cannot and will not" compromise on development.

"We stand committed that our per capita carbon emissions will never exceed the average of the per capita carbon emissions of developed countries," he told the conference in the presence of Maldives President Mohammad Nasheed.

Singh said as responsible members of the international community, the developing countries along with other members of the global community, must do their bit to keep emission footprint within levels that are sustainable and equitable.

"Equating GHG emissions across nations on a per capita basis is the only just and fair basis for a long-term global arrangement on climate change," the Prime Minister said.