India, US to hold talks on climate change

New Delhi, July 21 (ANI): India's Special Envoy on Climate Change Systems Shyam Saran and his US counterpart Todd Stern will hold talks on climate change today.

Stern, who was accompanying US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is staying back here for talks. Clinton is on her way to Thailand to attend an ASEAN meeting.

The issue of climate change is said to have figured in the discussions Clinton had with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Clinton agreed with Indian concerns on climate change and said that being one of the biggest emitters of green house gases, the US should share the burden of cleaning up the environment.

She also said that the United States would never do anything to limit the economic progress of India.

The United States wants India to agree to limit its carbon emissions ahead of the signing of a new UN climate treaty in Copenhagen in December, where over 190 nations will try to set emission cuts targets to 2020.

Clinton expressed optimism that the United States and India could bridge their differences on the issue of reducing greenhouse gases.

Earlier this month, Manmohan Singh had said at the G-8 summit in Italy that developed countries must bear "historic responsibility" for industrial emissions of greenhouse gases they have produced.

India contributes four percent of the world's emissions from burning fossil fuels, compared with 20 percent from the US. New Delhi has opposed any limits on emissions that would slow its growth. (ANI)