Industrialised countries must cut emissions: Jairam Ramesh

industrialized countries must make deep cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions and this must be verifiable internationally for a global climate deal in Copenhagen this December, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said here Monday, hours after being charged by Indian government negotiators and civil society groups of turning the country's climate policy around.

The minister faced flak for writing a letter to the prime minister in which he suggested that in order to be seen as a deal-maker rather than a deal-breaker in Copenhagen, India give up its insistence on saving the Kyoto Protocol - the current global treaty to fight climate change.

Ramesh told a select group of journalists here that the media report about his letter was a gross distortion. He said there had been no change in his position on the basic issues of what developed and developing countries should do to fight climate change, but everything else was negotiable.