India should be flexible on climate change: Ramesh

Kolkata, July 3: Former union minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday said India should be more flexible in its response to climate change otherwise it faces the risk of being isolated by other BASIC nations - Brazil, South Africa and China.

"In climate change, India now runs the risk of being very seriously isolated by China, Brazil and South Africa which make up the BASIC.

"India's position in my view should be far more nuanced, far more proactive and flexible than has been the case," the former environment minister said during a discussion on China at the Observer Research Foundation here.

Ramesh said China, which has so far been reluctant to go in for binding commitments globally, would eventually show subtle changes in its approach towards climate change talks.

"Chinese position on climate change will get nuanced between now and Dec 2015 (during the next Conference of the Parties summit). There are two reasons for that.

"China is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases and there is a name and shame in being the largest emitter and second, there is a larger constituency at home that is demanding cleaner water, air etc.

"China has adopted an aggressive domestic stance but internationally they are not wanting to take on binding commitments," Ramesh said.

He explained that there were indications of China changing its position on climate change.

"They will play the multilateral card. They already have bilateral co-operation with the U.S. For example, the two countries have decided to work together on phasing out hydrofluorocarbons, which India has been reluctant to do," he said.

IANS