Need to involve India, China on climate change: US

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Mar 7 (PTI) The United States has highlighted
the need to engage countries like India and China in tackling
climate change, saying the issue demanded a global response.

"We have historically been the largest emitter of
greenhouse gas emissions, but China has now surpassed us in
that. So we've got to bring in China and India and Indonesia
and other developing countries," Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton told a town hall meeting of young European leaders in
Brussels Friday.

"It is not going to be enough for Europe and the United
States to try to do some things – we have to have a global
response," she said, according to a transcript made available
by the State Department.

The Secretary of State said how to bring in the entire
world is the most important question posing her in the lead up
to the crucial Copenhagen meet later this year on climate
change. She has been bringing up this issue at her every
meeting with world leaders be it China, Japan or Indonesia.

"When I was in Asia, I spoke about this in Japan, in
South Korea, in Indonesia, in China, offering to work in
partnership...," she said.

Clinton acknowledged that it will be difficult to
convince some governments and the people that they represent
that now is the time given the crisis.

"I think from our Administration's perspective, this is a
propitious time. If we approach it as an opportunity to make
these investments through our stimulus packages, we can
actually begin to demonstrate our willingness to confront this
and have some positive experiences that we can take with us
into Copenhagen," she said.

The appointment of a Special Climate Change Envoy
reflects commitment of the Obama Administration in this
regard.

"We obviously had to demonstrate that our new
Administration was 100 per cent committed because as you know,
our government had not been prior to the change in the White
House," she said.

Observing that the Obama Administration is making up the
best it can for the lost time, she said: "We have problems
within our own country trying persuading people that this is
economically smart to make these investments now, but we are
committed to doing that. We just have to continue to make
the case." PTI LKJ
AM