India`s emission cut better than China: Kerry

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Dec 5 (PTI) Welcoming New Delhi's
announcement of reduction in emission intensity, a top US
Senator has said that India's proposal in this regard "with
respect to accountability" is better than that of China.
"They have put the language on the table that's
actually stronger than China's with respect to the
accountability and the measuring," Senator John Kerry,
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the
PBS news channel in an interview.
Kerry is a key architect of the Kerry-Boxer bill in
the US Congress that aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by
83 per cent by 2050 and 20 per cent over the next decade from
2005 levels.
Kerry said the recent emission cut announcements made
by China and India is a result of US President Barack Obama's
personal talks with the leaders of these two countries.
While Obama went to Beijing last month, the Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in the US soon thereafter on
the first State Visit of his presidency.
"If the President had not had the conversations that
he had when he was in China, I don't think that he would have
come to the point of making a decision to do 17 per cent
reduction and I don't think China would have followed a day
later with its decision," Kerry said.
India has decided to offer a reduction in carbon
emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020 over 2005 levels.
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