The government should set up a 'green fund' by imposing 5% forest development tax on sale of forest products and 3% forest conservation tax on sale of petroleum products and coal mining, the 12th Five-Year Plan working group under Planning Commission on natural resources has recommended. Another sub group working on environment and forests has backed a similar approach, recommending an economy-wide green tax regime to blend in with the Goods and Services Tax that the government is pushing.

The two-day 10th BASIC Ministerial Meeting of Brazil, South Africa, India and China on climate change, which concluded on Tuesday, expressed concern over the European Union’s decision to impose carbon tax on airlines flying in its airspace. They termed the inclusion of international aviation in the European Union Trading Scheme as a violation of the international law and provisions of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

India will not sign any legally binding global agreement for emissions reduction, as the country needs to eradicate poverty through economic growth, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said today. "There is no question of signing a legally binding agreement at this point of our development. We need to make sure that our development does not suffer," Natarajan said in Rajya Sabha. She was responding to clarifications on her December 21 statement in the House after she returned from the United Nations Climate Change Conference at Durban early this month.

The government on Tuesday clarified that India will not sign any legally-binding global agreement for emission reduction.

Union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan informed the Rajya Sabha that the country will not be signing any legally-binding norms as the country needs to eradicate poverty through economic growth.

India will not sign any legally binding global agreement for emissions reduction, as the country needs to eradicate poverty through economic growth, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said on Tuesday.

“There is no question of signing a legally binding agreement at this point of our development. We need to make sure that our development does not suffer,” Ms. Natarajan said in Rajya Sabha.

Sunita Narain in Durban

Emission reduction certificate prices at record lows, reflect question marks on the climate change policy.

To the surprise of the carbon trading market, prices of carbon emission reduction (CER) certificates traded on the Intercontinental Exchange have been sliding even after last week’s global deal on future emission reduction.

SAIL, ONGC, Adani Power, Delhi Metro among gainers.

The Indian industry has reasons to cheer the outcome of the just-concluded Durban climate change talks, which announced the extension of the UN carbon market beyond 2012.
Private sector firms as well as public sector units such as SAIL, ONGC and even Delhi Metro, which owns carbon credit, will gain from the extension of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Durban Conference on Climate Change finally ended on the wee hours of Saturday after running for over 24 hours beyond schedule. By Friday, the two-week meeting being held at the International Convention Centre in Durban, had broken down into the ministerial-level huddles - small groups of top leaders meeting to thrash out a consensus. The halls outside were full of people waiting for some action. But strangely enough, there was no sense of anticipation or excitement. Strange in a world that is increasingly feeling the pains of climate change and that knows that time is running out.

However, Durban meet also reveals resistance of rich countries to sharing ecological and economic space with developing nations

The Durban climate change conference — the 17th conference of parties — has ended, after grueling and acrimonious negotiations on how the world would cut carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to growth, but are also now jeopardising its future because of catastrophic weather changes.