Jairam Ramesh to leave for Copenhagen tomorrow

With India promising to be a "part of the solution," huge responsibilities await Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh at Copenhagen as he leaves tomorrow morning to attend the climate change talks.

Ramesh is already facing flak for his reported turnaround in India's position by seeking flexibility at the negotiations, with a section, including the opposition, charging him to be "sold out to the US."

Ramesh has since then been maintaining that there had been no change in his position on the basic issues of what developed and developing countries should do to fight climate change, but everything else was "negotiable", as it wanted to be the part of the solution to the problem it never created.

India has already announced emission intensity cuts in the range from 20-25%, a move which has been opposed by activists and environmentalists who have accused the government of bowing before US pressure.

At Copenhagen, however, the pressure on the minister is expected to be much more than he faced at home, with smaller nations and island nations looking towards India to take a lead in putting forth their interest at the negotiation table.

While smaller nations want India not to 'sell out' on a climate agreement that lets the rich countries get away easy and instead puts a bigger onus on poorer nations to cut emissions, they are seeking a legally binding treaty from emerging economies.