Ahluwalia had said such a move would hamper India's quest to provide electricity to 400 million people who still lived without it in this country. In its place, he had repeated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's suggestion that per capita greenhouse gas emissions be equal throughout the world. Greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, are responsible for global warming.

Dervis said the route to equal per capita emission was 80 percent reduction by developed countries and 20 percent by developing countries, though in this way the per capita equilibrium would be reached 10 years later, in 2060.

This did not mean that developing countries should not increase their energy generation or move towards the same standard of living as in developed countries, Dervis hastened to add.

Only, the development path should be different, and the industrialised countries should pay the extra cost of treading the new path.