While lauding the recent steps taken by India to deal with climate change, United Nations’ top official on climate change on Thursday regretted the fact that these were not being appreciated well enough by the international community.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Yve de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said India was perhaps paying the price for being “vocal” in its opposition to accept any legally binding emission cuts. But he was also of the opinion that India itself was afflicted with a “bit of inferiority complex” in worrying about how it was being perceived globally.

“I see more people praising what India is doing than I see people criticising what India is doing. But, yes, it is absolutely true that the actions that India is putting in place are not being recognised by the international community,” de Boer said.

“What perhaps has put India in the spotlight more is that India has been much more vocal in not being willing to take emission targets. But that, in a way, is a bizarre discussion as well because nobody is actually asking developing countries to reduce their emissions in absolute terms. A lot of this has to do with poor communication. Perhaps more could be done to explain what India is doing,” he said.

In the run-up to the Copenhagen summit, India has made major concessions from its traditional line on climate change. It has included mitigation in its strategy to deal with climate change and also made a unilateral offer to let the world know about the results of its domestic actions every year.

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