NEW DELHI: Indian Premier Manmohan Singh said Saturday he was willing to commit his country to "ambitious" global carbon emission cuts, provided others shared the burden.

Home to nearly 1.2 billion people, India is the only major greenhouse gas emitting nation yet to announce figures on reining in its carbon output, with just over a week to go until UN climate talks start in Copenhagen.

"India is willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emissions reductions or limiting temperature increase but this must be accompanied by an equitable burden sharing paradigm," Singh said in a speech, the text of which was released by his office in New Delhi.

Singh gave no indication of any figures India might propose, or whether it would be an absolute cut, like those Europe and Japan have on the table, or a proportional cut like that offered by China.

India's CNN-IBN and Times Now TV networks reported Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was set to offer overall cuts of between 20 and 25 percent. But a ministry official said she was unaware of any such commitment.

Singh was speaking in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, where he was attending a Commonwealth summit.

India has been under pressure to pledge emission curbs after announcements earlier in the week by China and the United States, the world's top two sources of greenhouse gases.

The country, one of the top five carbon emitters, is considered critical to any progress at the UN-sponsored talks, which begin December 7.

China has said it will cut the level of its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels -- in effect an energy efficiency pledge.

The Hindustan Times quoted Ramesh, who was in Beijing for climate change talks, as saying Friday that India could not "sweep aside the fact" that peers such as China and Brazil had set out emission cut targets.

"It has implications for us. We can't run away from it," Ramesh said. "There is a lot of room for reducing emission intensity in India" without affecting economic growth, he added.

US President Barack Obama is to go to Copenhagen armed with a long-stated offer to cut US emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

But the White House has said Obama will also lay out a longer-term plan for a 30 percent reduction of US emissions from 2005 levels by 2025, a 42 percent reduction by 2030 and an 83 percent cut by 2050.

India has refused to accept binding emission cuts that it says could slow its growth and has instead highlighted mitigation measures such as solar power.

Singh has vowed not to let per capita emissions exceed those of industrialised countries, but studies released in September found that India's total emissions were likely to triple by 2031.

India says rich countries historically responsible for global warming should be responsible for funding mitigation measures in developing countries.

Singh called for a "comprehensive" outcome in Copenhagen covering the contentious issues of financing mitigation, adaptation and technology for poor nations most vulnerable to climate change.

"Science must not trump equity. Climate change action based on the perpetuation of poverty will simply not be sustainable," he said, adding he welcomed a proposal by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to launch a 10-billion-dollar fund to help developing countries tackle global warming.

The Copenhagen summit aims to produce an accord to slash emissions blamed for global warming.