Feb.1 – India is pledging to voluntarily cut its carbon emissions by 20 to 25 percent in 2020 based on 2005 levels although mitigation efforts will not include the agricultural sector.

India’s Environment and Forests Ministry said that mitigation efforts will be voluntary in nature and not legally binding but failed to give specific measures. The pledge comes as part of an agreement in Copenhagen that set a Jan. 31 deadline for developing countries for nonbinding, voluntary carbon-curbing actions, and economy-wide emissions targets for developed nations.

India’s promise will mean that it will adopt cleaner technologies to slow the rate at which emissions are growing, more precisely cutting the intensity of emissions depending on the gross domestic product. The world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, China, has also promised carbon emissions cuts based on intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020.