India
is
considering a new model based on the sharing of carbon dioxide emissions
between nations in the global climate talks to be held at
Cancun
in
Mexico
in
December.
The new model, which may form part of India's negotiation strategy at Mexico,
is based on the concept of a "carbon space," which is the total
amount of acceptable carbon dioxide emissions, and "carbon budget,"
which is the sharing of carbon space between nations.
"
India
will
not accept any global climate change agreement in which equity is absent,
equitable access to global atmospheric space is absent," its Environment
Minister Jairam Ramesh said at the conference to debate the new model.
He said
India
's
climate change negotiations must be based both on per capita emissions and per
capita income.
India
has
among the world's lowest per capita emissions, while a country such as
Australia
accounts for only around 1.5% of global emissions but is the developed world's
biggest per capita polluter.
Ramesh said if this global carbon budget principle is accepted,
India
will
be one of the biggest beneficiaries as it hasn't used the carbon space to which
it is historically entitled to.
As part of its per capita emission stand,
India
has
previously argued that countries with low per capita emissions have lesser
responsibility to undertake climate change actions compared with developed
countries, which account for most greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
"In the next six months, in the runup to the
Cancun
[climate talks] in December,
India
will
take the leadership role on the issue of global carbon budget and equitable
access to global atmospheric space," the minister said.
He said one of the problems of the climate change debate so far was the absence
of economic criteria. "We need to introduce an economic principle,"
he said.
India
already has support from developed countries such as
Germany
and
France
for
the concept, as well as the support of the BASIC nations of
Brazil
,
South
Africa
and
China
, and
intends to build a larger support base, he said.
However, Ramesh said a global agreement at
Cancun
was
highly unlikely.
"As things stand right now I'm not very optimistic of a global agreement
at
Cancun
. There may be some side agreements," he said.