Jairam Ramesh seeks unconditional CO2 curbs for India

By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Environment minister Jairam Ramesh has urged the prime minister to take on carbon emission reductions under a new global deal without insisting on finance and technology from rich nations, a report said on Monday.

The Times of India said Ramesh wrote to Manmohan Singh last week outlining a shift in India's traditional position in global climate negotiations.

India has said developing countries should not be asked to commit to emissions reductions without finance and technology from rich nations since they are largely to blame for most of mankind's greenhouse gas pollution to date.

The letter said India needed to break away from championing the Group of 77 developing nations at negotiations and be "embedded" with the richer G20 camp for a greater global role.

If accepted, this could break the unity among the developing countries and bring on board the world's fourth largest emitter in a global deal to fight climate change.

The United Nations has set a December deadline for a deal to be agreed during a major climate meeting in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

"The position we take on international mitigation commitments only if supported by finance and technology needs to be nuanced simply because we need to mitigate in self-interest," the newspaper quoted Ramesh as writing to Singh.

Mitigation is U.N.-speak for actions that lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.