An impassioned speech by environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan capped the finale of the UN climate summit that ended here early Sunday with a Durban Package, after she warned that India “will never be intimidated by any threat or pressure".
Ms Natarajan’s speech ensured that India's main concern — the inclusion of the concept of equity in the fight against climate change — became part of the package.
According to the Durban Package, countries have agreed to work towards a new regime that ensures all countries take legal emissions cuts. The countries also committed to a second term of Kyoto Protocol — the existing regime.
Ms Natarajan ensured there was a third option — "an agreed outcome with legal force" — apart from protocol or a legal instrument.
The plenary session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change summit came to a halt following row between Ms Natarajan and European Union (EU) Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard after objection over agreements reached behind closed doors.
The conference ended a day and a half behind schedule because of intense negotiations over contentious issues. India had wanted a "legal outcome" as the third option, but Hedegaard said this would put countries' sincerity in doubt.
That set off Natarajan, who roared: "We have shown more flexibility than virtually any other country. But equity is the centrepiece, it cannot be shifted. This is not about India. “Does fighting climate change mean we have to give up on equity? We have agreed to protocol and legal instrument. What's the problem in having one more option?
"India will never be intimidated by any threat or any kind of pressure. What's this legal instrument? How do I give a blank cheque?, she said.
As Ms Natarajan finished her speech amid a thunderous ovation from a hall packed with thousands of delegates from 194 governments, observers and the media, some countries backed the EU but China strongly supported India. Xie Zhenhua, the vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, pointed out that the developing countries like India and China were "already doing much more than developed countries" against global warming.
Then some countries supported India and China, while others still supported EU. Conference president and South Africa's foreign minister Maite Nkoane Mashabane then halted the session and asked EU and India to go into a huddle there and then. Unprecedented scenes followed beyond midnight as negotiators from all countries mobbed Ms Natarajan and Hedegaard and snapped photographs, with no sign of exhaustion even at 2 in the morning.
US and Chinese chief negotiators joined the huddle too. More frenzied applause indicated an agreement had finally been reached. When the session reconvened, Ms Natarajan announced that India had agreed to a change of wording in the third option "in a spirit of flexibility and accommodation".
Hedegaard thanked India. Under the four-pronged Durban Package, rich nations have now agreed to reduce their GHG emissions from 2013 under the Kyoto Protocol, a key demand of developing countries.