India's per capita emissions will never exceed developed nations': Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, July 19 (ANI): Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, has said that India will never allow its per capita emissions to exceed that of the developed countries.

In his opening remarks at ITC Green Building event organized in connection with the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today, Ramesh made it clear that India's position on the on-going climate change agreement negotiations is clear, credible and consistent.

"Embedded in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Bali Action Plan, we are fully alive to our global responsibilities. Even with 8-9% GDP growth every year for the next decade or two, our per capita emissions will be well below that of developed country averages," he assured.

He added that India, despite being among the lowest emissions per capita, pressure to reduce emissions.

"If this pressure was not enough, we also face the threat of carbon tariffs on our exports to countries such as yours," he said.

Talking about India's economic growth he said Indian government is ensuring that its economic growth path is ecologically sustainable-GDP is increasingly Green Domestic Product, not just Gross Domestic Product.

In collaboration with the UN, the Government of India is hosting an International Conference on Climate Change and Technology on October 22-23rd, 2009. The New Delhi Statement on Technology and Climate Change will be reflected in the Copenhagen Agreement.

Giving details of India's comprehensive National Action plan on Climate Change, Ramesh explained that it is driven primarily by adaptation imperatives but it does not neglect what we should do on our own for mitigation also.

He added that India seeks to engage the United States of America purposively in areas joint research, development, demonstration and dissemination of environmental projects.

Ramesh proposed to jointly explore the feasibility of establishing an Indo-US Foundation for Climate Change Technology with initial kick-start contributions from our respective governments. (ANI)