India seeks more talks on contentious climate draft

By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian negotiators have played down a proposal for major economies to consider setting a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, saying there were contentious ideas in the draft on the cuts needed.

The proposal is part of a draft document put forward by the United States and Mexico at talks in Mexico this week, without reaching an accord.

A copy of the text was made available to Reuters and is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the 17-member Major Economies Forum (MEF) on the sidelines of a G8 summit in Italy on July 9.

Plans also include doubling of public investments by the major economies in low-carbon technology by 2015 and boosting funding from public and private sources as well as from carbon markets to fight global warming.

But Indian negotiators returning from Mexico said there was no consensus over the draft text and many hurdles remained, especially on the scope of emission cuts for different countries.

A top negotiator said the problems mainly related to mitigation measures such as determining the long-term global emissions goals and setting a peak year for global emissions.

"There are differences on some of these issues, so it's not a consensus text that is ready to be adopted in one more meeting," the official told Reuters on Friday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Another Indian official with knowledge of the negotiations said: "There is difference of opinion and approach among the participating countries."