India To Cut Emissions Intensity 20% - 25% By 2020

India says it will cut emissions intensity 20%-25% by 2020, but will not accept legally binding targets. India opposes binding carbon-emissions cuts at the cost of slowing economic growth.

India also won't accept an agreement that stipulates the setting of a "peaking year" for emissions. A peaking year implies the setting of a date beyond which a nation must begin reducing emissions. We just don't get this. How do you 'reduce emissions without reducing emissions?'

In order to 'reduce emissions without reducing emissions,' India intends to:

Legislate mandatory fuel-efficiency standards for all vehicles by December 2011.

Recommend mandatory green building codes to states and municipal administrations.

Make amendments to the Energy Conservation Act to enable emissions-intensity reductions and report regularly on the state of the country's forests.

Ensure 50% of all new power-plant capacity will be based on clean-coal technology.

The Chinese have pledged a 45% reduction in its 'carbon intensity' by 2020. (WSJ, 12/4/09)