No change in stand on climate change: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said India's accepting that global temperature should not exceed two degrees celsius was a possible threshold guiding global action and is "entirely in line" with country's stated position on global warming.

"India has not changed its stand on climate change and the declaration at the Major Economic Forum (MEF) adopted at L'Aquila, Italy, is not a declaration of its climate change policy," he said in the Lok Sabha while replying to a debate.

Singh, who is under attack for stating that global temperature increase should not exceed 2C, argued "it was not a bilateral declaration between India and another country or a group of countries.

Instead, he pointed, "it is a declaration that represents a shared view among 17 developed and developing countries, the latter category including China, South Africa, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico."

Therefore, the formulations are necessarily generally worded to reflect different approaches and positions of a fairly diverse group of countries, he contended.

Singh termed the criticism "a one-sided and misleading interpretation" and asserted that India will was in no way obliged to accept emission reduction targets.

The Prime Minister said "it is India's view, which has been consistently voiced at all forums, that global warming is taking place and that its adverse consequences will impact most heavily on developing countries like India."