This would represent a major shift in the Ministry of Environment's determined stance at the UNFCCC climate change negotiations where it has been insistent on rich countries taking the lead.
A draft paper seen by the Times of India suggests that the country is prepared to carry out domestic climate action under its own steam. It has previously insisted that financial and technological support from developed countries should come first.
The Environment Ministry has reportedly sent a letter of opposition to the Planning Commission in response to what it views as interference.
“Since Copenhagen there is a much bigger and far wider debate in India about what the country needs to do about climate change," Saleemul Huq, a senior research fellow at the IIED told RTCC.
“Rather than the very hard line that the Ministry of the Environment has taken, which is that the country should do nothing unless the developed countries do, now the attitude seems to be shifting to the realisation that everybody needs to do something and India can't just stand by and refuse to do anything," added Huq. Read the full report here.
Source: by John Parnell, RTCC.
