The Indian government has said it may be possible to cut its carbon intensity - the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of gross domestic product - by 24 percent by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.

Provisional government estimates aim to reduce India's carbon emissions by 37 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. India's figures are based on a projection that the country will achieve 20 percent energy efficiency by 2020 from 2007 levels.

The world's fourth highest emitter is under pressure to announce details of how it will control its increasing carbon emissions at the United Nations summit on climate change in Copenhagen next week. New Delhi says it is not going to be pinned down to specific figures in Copenhagen as part of a global deal, but that its targets will reflect a broad range.

In the past few days, several country have unveiled their targets ahead of the summit which starts on 7 December. China aims to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020, while the US and the EU are thinking in the region of 20 percent.

The talks in the Danish capital were aimed at hammering out a legally-binding deal. Negotiations have run out of time but there are still hopes that a substantive political pact can be agreed at the meeting instead.

India is under pressure to reduce CO2 emissions