India and China ink climate pact, as Copenhagen speculation rumbles on

India and China today signed a wide-ranging bilateral climate change agreement that commits them to greater co-operation on the development of low carbon technologies and aims to ensure they present a united front at the forthcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen.

The memorandum of understanding was signed at a ceremony in New Delhi earlier today by India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh and Xie Zhenhua, vice minister at China's National Development and Reform Commission.

Under the five-year deal, the two countries will agree to work together on the rollout of energy efficiency measures, renewable energy technologies and forest management initiatives.

However, more significant in the short term is the agreement to adopt similar positions at the forthcoming UN climate change talks, which will see both nations step up calls for rich countries to commit to deeper emission cuts and provide more funding.

The two countries also reiterated their opposition to US demands for the framework established in the Kyoto Protocol to be scrapped, insisting that they would not sign up to legally binding emission reduction targets and that Kyoto's recognition that industrialised and developing nations should be treated differently must be retained.

According to Bloomberg reports, Ramesh told reporters that the two countries would present a united front at December's talks. "Both India and China are collaborating to ensure a fair and equitable outcome at Copenhagen," he said. " There is virtually no difference in Indian and Chinese negotiating positions."

His comments come just a day after a confusing U-turn, which saw Ramesh apparently write to the Prime Minister's Office suggesting that the country could soften its stance on emission targets, only to then issue a statement claiming the country would "never accept internationally legally binding emission reduction targets or commitments as part of any agreement or deal or outcome".

According to local media reports, members of Ramesh's negotiating team had threatened to quit over reports he was preparing to soften India's stance, and the Prime Minister's Office was forced to issue a statement insisting that the environment minister's suggestion that India could accept some form of targets was just a proposal.

Ramesh then issued a statement insisting his earlier comments had been misinterpreted and that India had not shifted its negotiating position. "In particular, we will never agree to the elimination of the distinction between developed countries and developing countries as far as internationally legally binding emission reduction obligations are concerned," he said. " Internationally legally binding emission reduction targets are for developed countries and developed countries alone, as globally agreed under the Bail Action Plan."

He added that India was prepared to consider international measurement, reporting and verification of its mitigation actions, but "only when such actions are enabled and supported by international finance and technology".

The India-China pact comes as contradictory messages regarding the current state of the Copenhagen process continued to emerge.

British energy and climate change minister Ed Miliband had closed the latest meeting of the Major Economies Forum of large polluters this week, insisting that some progress had been made and a deal was now "more do-able" than it had been before the meeting.

However, the New York Times has reported that the UN's top climate change official, Yvo de Boer, is now openly attempting to downplay the chances of a formal agreement being reached in Copenhagen and is laying the groundwork for further meetings next year.

"There isn’t sufficient time to get the whole thing done," he said late last week. "But I hope it will go well beyond simply a declaration of principles. The form I would like it to take is the groundwork for a ratifiable agreement next year."