Don't expect miracles at Copenhagen: Jairam Ramesh

I / New York September 19, 2009, 14:55 IST

India has said that developed countries should "not expect miracles" at the key Copenhagen climate summit in December and the goals sought for emission controls should be more "realistic".  

"We must aim for low hanging fruit," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told an audience here, indicating that the control limits being sought by advanced countries were too high.

In significant comments ahead of the summit, Ramesh said India should not be singled out as the "obstructionist" and instead industrialised countries should agree on realistic targets for cutting emissions by 2020.

He told a meeting at the Columbia University at an event called India's Road to Copenhagen hosted by renowned economist Jagdish Bhagwati that the December summit should focus on consensus on areas such as afforestation to promote carbon sequestration, strengthening the Clean Development Mechanism and technology-sharing.

The minister said at no time, in the future, would India's per capita emissions exceed the per capita emissions of the industrialised countries. He further pointed out that while India was in the same "negotiating ship" as China, the two countries should not be clubbed together.