Climate change talks set for New Delhi end January

The four nations, a group referred to as BASIC, brokered a political accord with President Barack Obama at last month's climate summit. The New Delhi meeting is important because the decisions made by the BASIC nations will play a key role in shaping a legally binding climate deal that the U.N. hopes will be completed by the end of 2010.

The ministers were also expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the two-day meeting that is likely to take place Jan. 23-24, said Kalpana Palkhiwala, a spokeswoman for India's Environment and Forests Ministry. Details were yet to be finalized, she said Monday.

U.N. scientists warn of dire consequences for the planet if action is not taken to fight climate change. They say any temperature rise above 3.6-degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) could lead to a catastrophic sea level rise threatening islands and coastal cities, the killing off of many species of animals and plants, and the alteration of agricultural economies of many countries.

The so-called Copenhagen Accord sets a Jan. 31 deadline for developing countries to present their nonbinding, voluntary carbon-curbing actions, and for rich nations to submit economy-wide emissions targets for 2020.

India says future negotiations on the Copenhagen Accord should be based on the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

In Copenhagen, many developed countries wanted to see the end of the Kyoto Protocol, which the United States refused to sign. It required developed countries to cut emissions, while making no demands on developing nations such as India.

China and India went to the Copenhagen climate talks with proposals to bring down pollution levels.

China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, said it would cut its "carbon intensity" — a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of production — by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020, compared with levels in 2005.

India, the fifth largest polluter, said by 2020 it would cut its carbon intensity by 20 percent to 25 percent. Neither country has accepted a legally binding emissions reduction target.