India says is now third highest carbon emitter

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU Oct 4 (Reuters) - India's environment minister said on Monday the country could not have high economic growth and a rapid rise in carbon emissions now that the nation was the number three emitter after China and the United States.

Jairam Ramesh's comments come as negotiators from nearly 200 governments meet in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin. The U.N. talks aim to reach agreement on what should follow the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol, the key treaty on climate change, which expires in 2012. [ID:nTOE69200S]

Indian per-capita emissions are still low but demand for energy is rising as the middle-class buys more cars, TVs and better housing. Much of that energy comes from coal oil and gas, the main sources for planet-warming carbon dioxide.

But Ramesh said India's rush for wealth could not come at the expense of the environment.

Officials said his comments are the first time a government minister has said India has overtaken Russia as the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

"We will unilaterally, voluntarily, move on a low-carbon growth path. We can't have 8-9 percent GDP growth and high-carbon growth," Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in the Nepalese capital.

"It has to be low-carbon 8 percent, 9 percent growth and that is the objective that we have set for ourselves," he said.

Poorer nations are now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and many big developing countries have taken steps to curb the growth of their emissions but say they won't agree on absolute cuts, fearing this will hurt their economies.