Hillary to talk climate change

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Delhi later on Sunday where she will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister SM Krishna but that's on Monday.

But on Sunday Ms Clinton will be talking about the one issue that is priority for the Obama administration: climate change.

Ms Clinton will be visiting the energy conserving ITC Green Building. Climate change is one of the major areas of difference between India and the United States with India insisting that developed countries have to do much more since they created the mess.

PTI adds: While speaking in Mumbai on Saturday, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned New Delhi from treading the high-carbon path and repeating mistakes committed by Americans in contributing to global pollution.

"We acknowledge now with President Obama that we have made mistakes in the US and we, along with other developed countries have contributed most significantly to the problem that we face with climate change...," she said at a press conference here.

But "we are hoping a great country like India will not make the same mistake," she said.

Clinton, who is on a five-day visit to India, was echoing the sentiments of the US President who in Italy early this year had stated that the US had "sometimes fallen short" of its responsibilities in controlling carbon emissions.

However, she was silent on India's demand in which it was seeking greater role of the developed countries including USA in providing fund and technology for adaptation and mitigation to combat threats of climate change.

Instead, she hoped that India would leapfrog the dirty technologies that are leading to climate change while tackling the issue of poverty to uplift the life of its teeming population.

The latest data shows that while US is responsible for about 20 per cent of global CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, India, with its billion plus population, accounts for only 1.8 tonnes per capita.

At the international forum, India has been expressing its willingness to do more provided "there were credible arrangements to provide both additional financial support as well as technological transfers from developed to developing countries."

Emphasising that the problem of climate change cannot be addressed by "perpetuating the poverty" of developing countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently said in Parliament that as a responsible member of the international community, we recognise our obligation to preserve and protect our environment.

"We are willing to do more provided there are credible arrangements to provide both additional financial support as well as technological transfers from developed to developing nations," he had said.