India announced yesterday it would reduce its carbon emissions intensity by 20-25 per cent of 2005 levels by 2020, but that the reduction would be made voluntarily rather than as part of any legally binding international agreement to combat global warming.

Jairam Ramesh, the environment minister, told parliament the reduction would be achieved by a raft of measures. These include mandating fuel efficiency standards for all vehicles by December 2011, legislating an energy-efficient building code and ensuring that half all new coal-fired power generation uses clean coal technology.

Such action would be part of a gradual transition to a low-carbon economy. A change, he said, was in India's “own self-interest” given its vulnerability to global warming.