US ready for Binding Climate Pact only if India and China commit

New York, Feb 28 (UNI) The US is willing to enter into an intenational agreement on cutting greenhouse-gas emissions only if India and China also agree to commit for the same, a White House official said.

Mr James L Connaughton, the long-serving chairman of President Bush's Council on Environmental Quality said the Bush administration would accept a treaty with binding obligations for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions, but with a significant catch. China, India, and other emerging economic giants would have to commit, under the same binding terms, to do some measurable things (not necessarily the same things) to curb their emissions growth, as well, a report in New York Times said yesterday.

Mr Connaughton also said the White House feared this willingness to accept a treaty requiring steps to curb greenhouse gases had not been adequately understood, by the news media and other governments. He also said , so far, China and India showed scant signs of being willing to do their part.

Last December in Bali, at the latest round of United Nations talks on next steps under the ailing 1992 climate treaty and the struggling Kyoto Protocol, developing countries refused to accept language saying they would join rich countries and spend two years pursuing ''commitments and actions'' aimed at curbing emissions. Mr Connaughton said the developing countries would only go so far as to say they would pursue 'actions'.

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