India backs Copenhagen climate deal

“After careful consideration, India has agreed to such a listing,” Jairam Ramesh told parliament, referring to India's decision to formally join the more than 100 countries that have chosen to associate themselves with the non-binding Accord.

“We believe that our decision to be listed reflects the role India played in giving shape to the Copenhagen Accord. This will strengthen our negotiating position on climate change.”

India's decision leaves China, the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, as the only nation among the “BASIC” group of big developing countries to hold off from associating with the political agreement.

The step is likely to be a small boost for the troubled Accord, which many greens say was a bare-minimum outcome from a summit originally intended to agree on the shape of a broader, tougher legally binding pact to fight climate change.

The BASIC group of nations — China, India, South Africa and Brazil — joined the United States, EU and a small number of other countries at the end of the Copenhagen summit to agree on the Accord.

It was meant to be formally adopted by all nations at the conference but last-minute objections by a small number of countries meant the agreement was merely noted. In a compromise, it was decided nations wishing to associate themselves with it would be added to a list later on.

But BASIC nations, and particularly China, India and Brazil, feared a ringing endorsement of the Accord could detract from the 1992 U.N. Climate Convention, which says rich nations must lead action to slow global warming.

Conditional Endorsement

They have also made clear their view that the Accord should not become the basis of a new legally binding climate treaty and that the existing U.N. talks looking to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol was the main way forward.

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