Counter-proposal drawn up for Copenhagen

BEIJING, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Four of the world's major developing countries, including China and India, have come up with a counter-draft listing their "non-negotiable" demands ahead of the U.N. climate summit that begins next week in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The draft was agreed upon following a meeting Saturday of the BASIC countries -- Brazil, South Africa, India and China -- along with Sudan, which chairs the Group of 77, an organization representing 130 developing nations.

The four countries agreed to a strategy of jointly walking out of the Copenhagen conference if the developed nations try to push their own terms on the developing world, said Indian Environment Minister Jairam Remesh, the India Times reports.

"We will not exit in isolation. We will co-ordinate our exit if any of our non-negotiable terms is violated. Our entry and exit will be collective," Ramesh told reporters in Beijing.

"But we are not going to Copenhagen to exit," Ramesh stressed.

The BASIC draft will be released in Copenhagen by Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change, on Tuesday, the same day Denmark is scheduled to unveil its text to a select group of countries, including the United States, several European countries, India and China, the Hindu daily newspaper reports.

Ramesh said there are "significant new features" in the BASIC countries' draft proposal.

The "non-negotiable" issues in the BASIC draft include: The countries would never accept legally binding emissions cuts, unsupported mitigation actions, international measurement, reporting and verification of unsupported mitigation actions, and the use of climate change as an excuse to set up trade barriers.

"We believe this draft represents a good starting point, and hope this will serve as the basis for negotiations," said Ramesh.

"It is a minimum, compromise draft and not ideal. But it takes into account all our concerns, and is realistic as far as international requirements are concerned," he said.

India and China have long rejected mandated cuts in carbon emissions, both countries maintaining that rich, developed nations should lead the way in cutting greenhouse gases. They argue that mandated cuts would thwart their economic growth.

Yet Thursday China announced it intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions per unit of economic output by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020.

On Wednesday, after meetings between U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the United States pledged to slash its emissions by 17 percent by 2020, provisional on the passage of legislation in Washington.