US won’t press India on Kyoto

The US walked out of the Kyoto protocol on two grounds — one that it stood in the way of their economic development and the other that countries like India and China which were on their way to becoming big polluters were not required to take on commitments to cut on these emissions.

‘‘We recognise the fact that developing countries have a key goal of poverty alleviation and for that they have to expand economically and with that will come more emissions,’’ said Watson.

This statement was made hours after Environment Minister T.R. Baalu had said India will not fall prey to pressure from developed countries like the US to take on commitments.

‘‘As a developing country, we will not concede to commit in the second phase or ‘even the nth phase’ of implementation of climate change convention and the Kyoto protocol,’’ said Baalu.

He had also said that he would use all diplomatic channels to convince the US to ratify the protocol. This was one of the main points of contention which had polarised the industrialised countries from the developing countries.

The protocol is expected to bring massive investments from industrialised countries for acceleration of support of fuel cells, photovoltaic technology, weather early warning systems, clean and renewable sources of energy. Watson said that in spite of rejecting the protocol, the business community in the US was very keen on exploring these options. ‘‘It is just that these would not be counted as credits,’’ he said.

Under the protocol, there is a provision by which developed countries can invest in clean technologies in developing countries and gain credits.

Watson is here to participate in the preparatory meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC).