Mr Ramesh was elucidating India’s position in the run-up to a conference in Copenhagen later this year, where parties of the UNFCCC meet for the last time on Government level before the climate agreement need to be renewed.

“There is no way India is going to accept any emission reduction target, between now and the Copenhagen meeting and thereafter,” he said. “This is a non-negotiable stand.”

Reiterating India’s previous offer to contain per capita carbon dioxide emissions below those of developed nations, Mr Ramesh maintained that by taking on any legally binding emission reduction target “we will be jeopardising our energy consumption target, transportation expansion and most importantly our agricultural and power production, which is needed for poverty elimination.”

More than 190 nations are negotiating a global climate treaty to reduce gas emissions and replace the expiring 1997 Kyoto Protocol limits. Countries plan to wrap up negotiations and sign the new treaty in Copenhagen by late December.

Mr Ramesh said that India, the second-most populous nation, only emits 4.6 per cent of the global carbon-dioxide emissions, while the US produces 20.9 per cent.

He also said that the legislation passed by the US House of Representatives to impose trade penalties on nations that do not accept limits on global warming pollution is a concern for India. “We reject the use of climate as a non-tariff barrier,” the minister said. “We comprehensively and categorically reject any attempt to introduce climate change” as part of World Trade Organisation talks.

On the domestic efforts to combat climate change, Mr Ramesh said that eight National Missions were in different phases of operation and 24 critical initiatives were on the anvil, for which detailed plans and an institutional framework is being prepared. He said India already has a programme to study climate change, involving 98 institutions and 227 scientists. “Unfortunately, most of the climate change science is being done in western countries… I’m in touch with scientists of Indian origin abroad, who want to build scientific capability in this area here,” he added.