WESTERN countries are hypocritical and must sacrifice some luxuries before asking developing countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, India’s climate change envoy has said.
The envoy received support from another key international player when China insisted that rich countries should commit to large cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases, but declined to put a ceiling on its own levels.
Four months before the Copenhagen conference, which aims to produce a successor to the Kyoto Treaty, China’s chief climate change negotiator confirmed that the world’s leading polluter was holding out for developed countries to reduce emissions by 40 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.
“We have all along believed that due to the historical responsibility of the developed nations, they must continue to take the lead with large reductions beyond 2012,” said Yu Qingtai.
India’s envoy, Shyam Saran, said his country would not take any measures that could restrict its growth. Instead, he said, it would fund developments to reduce carbon emissions, increase green power generation and improve energy efficiency.
Any further measures demanded by developed countries would be taken only if full funding and technological support were provided, he said.
Mr Saran said his Government planned to bring electricity to remote villages by transforming agricultural waste into power. The Government would not yield to pressure from the “hypocritical” West, he said.
“No one is prepared to touch their living standards,” he said. “If you say, ‘You’re producing Tata Nanos [India's new car], what will that do to the world?’, but not talk about your two or three cars per family, it’s hypocritical.
“We can’t be ambitious if we all protect our turf. We need a collaborative response.”
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Sacrifice your luxuries, India tells West
