India may announce carbon targets linked to economic growth

An indication to this effect was given by environment Minister Jairam Ramesh who met Premier Wen Jiabao, a day after China announced massive emission cut target up to 45 per cent by 2020.
Ramesh and Wen are believed to have discussed the strategies the two countries may adopt at the Copenhagen climate summit next month.
The Chinese government is said to have confirmed to him its opposition to allowing any international review of its environmental progamme, including carbon emission reduction, a stand India has also shared.
India is surprised by the high level of emission cuts announced by China yesterday by which it has pledged to reduce its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 per cent by 2020.
The minister is believed to be of the view that India cannot ignore emission target levels fixed on their own by countries like China, Brazil and South Africa. But India's targets may not be as high as that of China.
Ahead of his visit to China, Ramesh had said that "we (India and China) are on same page as far as negotiations are concerned but not as far as emissions are concerned. China today is the world's leading carbon emitter while India is on the fifth position."

China's emission level is 2.85 tonnes per thousand dollars of Gross Domestic Product compared to India's level which is 1.8 tonnes per thousand dollars of GDP.
The minister, who is here on a two-day visit to firm up the stand to be taken at the Copenhagen summit, plans to meet his counterparts from key developing countries like Brazil, South Africa besides China.
"India has all along taken the position that it will not take on any legally-binding emission commitment nor announce any peaking year. We already have national action plan on climate change to tackle the challenge," Ramesh had said yesterday.
Asserting that the country is "serious, pragmatic and very flexible" about the issue, he said "we have talked about appropriate national mitigation outcomes... we are looking at a low-carbon growth strategy for the 12th five year plan which would be announcing a target intensity of GDP decline by 2020."
Brazil has already announced to cut its emission by 48 per cent over business-as-usual while South Africa plans to announce peaking year of emissions level by 2025.
India and China are under pressure from the West to make concessions in the run-up to the summit which will try to produce a successor to the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 which limits carbon dioxide emissions.