Climate change debate in UNSC welcome step: India

India has said discussion on climate change in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a welcome step, but maintained that the 15-member body does not have tools to deal with the issue.

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Following a day-long debate in the Security Council, India's envoy to UN Hardeep Singh Puri noted that peacekeeping missions, use of force and sanctions, which the UNSC can authorise, do not fit the problems of climate change.

Puri insisted that climate change needed to stay in the realm of the General Assembly and the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

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"We don't have a problem discussing climate change," the envoy said. "As far as action, it has to be done in the UNFCCC. Some countries are trying to do a mandate creep," he said, describing a trend to get more issues under the belt of the Security Council.

Countries like Brazil and South Africa also emphasised that the UNFCCC should remain central to addressing the issue of climate change. India, however, differed its position from China and Russia, which were fundamentally against the Council dealing with climate change.

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Mark Lyall Grant, UK's envoy to the UN, also noted that New Delhi has not opposed the Council's statement on the climate change in the same way as Beijing and Moscow. "India played a positive role," he said.

After several revisions, the Security Council issued a statement on climate change, last night. Observers noted that its language was weakened to reach a compromise.