Industrialised nations' CO2 cut plans 'are pathetic', says Indian Copenhagen negotiator - - India News Times

One of India's senior negotiators at the Copenhagen summit has said that industrialised nations have set "pathetic" targets to reduce carbon emissions. According to BBC News, the Indian negotiator in question is Chandrashekhar Dasgupta. One of the summit's requirements was for countries to spell out by January 31, how they would cut emissions. "But industrialised nations had failed to set the "truly ambitious" targets needed, Chandrashekhar Dasgupta said. Fifty-five countries met the deadline set in the Copenhagen Accord to spell out their plans to cut carbon emissions, although some had already announced their targets ahead of the December climate change summit. Australia, for example, said it would cut emissions by 5 percent of its 2000 levels. Others like Japan and New Zealand said their commitments were dependent on a global deal. But, Dasgupta told The Report programme on BBC Radio 4, "We need truly ambitious emission reduction commitments from industrialised countries." "If you see figures that industrialised countries have submitted in response to the Copenhagen Accord, these are truly pathetic," he said. "The European Union had envisaged a reduction of from 25 percent to 30 percent from developed countries, they're nowhere near this," he added. Dasgupta said that developing countries were calling for industrialised nations to adopt a 40 percent target across a 30-year period. He said developing nations had found themselves "lectured and hectored" by industrialised countries at the summit. "We can do so much consistent with maintaining our development priorities. Beyond this, it is going to cost tens of billions of dollars," he said. "If you can help out with this, that is well and good, we can do more - but otherwise we cannot pick up the tab, it is simply too heavy," he added.