Word that India will soon roll out emission reduction targets signals an emerging consensus toward a climate-change agreement next month at Copenhagen, despite the Canadian government's much-noticed ambivalence.

India, one of the last holdouts in the fight against global warming, will announce the move within the next few days, French President Nicolas Sarkozy revealed Thursday.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon placed added pressure on Canada yesterday, chiding Ottawa for its inaction on climate change at a Commonwealth meeting of heads of government, in which climate issues are dominating the agenda.

“Many countries, developed and developing countries, have come out with ambitious targets,” said the U.N. leader.

“Canada is going to soon chair the G8 and therefore it is only natural that Canada should come out with ambitious midterm targets as soon as possible,” he said.