New Delhi, Sep 19

India Thursday expressed disappointment over emission reduction obligations by developed countries and said rich nations should take the lead in this area.

Studies have revealed that developing countries have pledged more by way of emission cuts than developed nations in the pre-2020 period, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, secretary (Economic Relations) at the ministry of external affairs, said at the Climate Policy and Business Conclave organised by FICCI.

"This is a complete inversion of the process and goes against the very fundamental principle of common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR)," he added.

"I would like to underline that in any future agreement, the annex-1 parties (developed nations) should continue to take leadership and the principle of CBDR should apply," he said.

India has been saying that as per CBDR, developed countries have the historic responsibility of reducing emission of greenhouse gases for they were responsible for polluting the atmosphere. 

Developing nations should also take measures for reducing emission without compromising their growth.

Chakravarty said the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol - the only legal framework that deals with climate change - was renewed in the Doha climate talks in 2012.

"We are disappointed that the emission reduction obligations undertaken by the annex-I parties in the Kyoto Protocol are not at all ambitious and much more serious emission cuts are required," he said.

About the climate change talks in Poland later this year, Chakravarty said they will be important in the context of implementation of decisions taken so far and charting out a roadmap of negotiations for the2015 agreement.

"An area of focus will undoubtedly be the big gap in the long term finance goals of mobilization of $100 billion per year by 2020. This gap should be addressed in Warsaw and we also need a clear roadmap for 2015," he said.

The countries had in 2011 agreed to come up with a new climate change agreement by 2015, for reduction of emissions and other measures to save the planet, which will be implemented by 2020.

The rich nations had also pledged to provide money through green climate fund and technology transfer to poor nations to take measures to deal with climate change and traverse a low carbon growth path.

"We cannot afford to ignore these decisions and jump to a new agreement in 2015," added Chakravarty.

Calling for more action from rich nations, Ravi Prasad, joint secretary in the environment ministry, said the developmental gap between rich and poor nations is stark and it is not possible that both take similar emission reduction pledges.

"Issues of delayed financing and technology transfer are hampering further commitment from developing countries," said Prasad.

By:IANS