 India bolstered troubled UN climate talks on Friday by saying it could eventually commit to legally binding emissions reduction targets, a newspaper reported, in a major shift in the government's stance. India is the world's No. 3 greenhouse gas polluter after the United States and China, and rapid economic growth and consumption are driving up production of planet-warming carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, transport and industry. But the government has long insisted it will not accept binding emissions reduction targets in any new climate deal because to do so would harm the economy and stall its aim to lift millions out of poverty. But Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, speaking on the sidelines of UN climate talks in the Mexican resort of Cancun, said it was time to shift India's stance by accepting the need for binding cuts as part of a new legally binding climate pact. "We have to accept the changing global reality. G77 has been vocally calling for a legally binding instrument," Ramesh said in an interview with the Hindustan Times and referring to the 131-member grouping of developing nations. India is part of the G77. "I have just said that all countries must agree to binding commitments under a appropriate legally binding form." Last year's climate talks in Copenhagen ended with a non-binding accord instead of a new treaty to succeed the UN's Kyoto Protocol from 2013. The long-running UN negotiations have stalled over disagreement between rich and poor nations over how much to cut greenhouse gas emissions and how to share the burden in any new agreement. Developing nations have said they should not take on legally binding cuts when rich nations need to do more and that the rich are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas pollution over the past two centuries. "KNIFE-EDGE" Talks on a deal to slow global warming were on a "knife edge" on Thursday in Cancun as Brazil and Japan expressed guarded hopes of ending a dispute between rich and poor about curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Negotiators were set to work through the night seeking to end a standoff over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which binds almost 40 rich nations to curb emissions until 2012, before the final day of the two-week talks on Friday. Ramesh's comments come days after the Indian government decided to shift its stance. "This is part of a flexible approach," Ramesh told the newspaper, Similar comments were carried by other Indian media. "It was a deliberate decision to expand India's room in negotiations for the next one year. India can attain global leadership by only expanding its negotiating space," he said. Ramesh's stand was expeceted to be slammed by opposition parties back home and any serious political pressure on the government could force him to back down. An Indian official confirmed Ramesh's remarks. "What the minister said was that India is willing to open a dialogue on taking binding emission cuts going forward as a means to keep the negotiations meaningful and alive," an Indian official with knowledge of the talks told Reuters over the phone from Cancun. "We will not take binding cuts as of now and that remains our position. But we are willing to discuss it, that is what we are saying. We are not closed to taking cuts but in what legal form we have to see that. "In this, it is a new nuance. It will help us emerge as a proactive force from Cancun, a deal maker not a deal breaker." China said this week it would not accept any binding curbs on its greenhouse gas emissions.