With only a day to go before negotiations at Paris COP-21 end, it is now becoming increasingly improbable that the world will get a strong, acceptable-to-all climate deal by the end of it.
India, which along with BASIC nations has been demanding that the sanctity of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change be maintained and principle of CBDR and finance and technology transfers be adhered to, has criticised developed nations for “trying to shift their responsibilities” to developing countries.
In a statement issued late last night on the day when the final draft text was released at the ongoing Paris climate summit, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar expressed “deep disappointment” over developed countries “not fulfilling their obligations on finance” and also “trying to shift their responsibilities” to developing countries.
“There is no indication of scaling up of finance, nor a clear roadmap,” Javadekar said, adding that “much work is needed to reach a point of convergence” to decide a new global climate deal. At the same time though Javedkar also expressed India’s willingness to be flexible and forward-looking.
“We are not suggesting that we remain stuck to the past. Surely, we must look forward and move steadily. But a durable agreement cannot be crafted by diluting historical responsibilities or by putting the polluters and the victims at the same level,” he said.
“On long-term temperature goal, we are deeply sensitive to the demands for higher climate ambition. I understand fully the demand for mentioning 1.5 degrees, as we also have over 1,300 islands in India,” said Javadekar. “However, a 1.5 degrees goal would require developed countries to massively reduce their emissions and massively ‘scale up’ their financial support to developing countries. “This is not happening,” Javadekar said during a negotiating session.
The goal of capping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius finds a mention in the draft negotiating text which was unveiled yesterday.
The BASIC countries had on Tuesday issued a statement “re-emphasing” that “in accordance with the Durban mandate, the Paris agreement is being formulated under the Convention and as such must be in full accordance with its principles and provision, particularly the principles of equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) and respective capabilities, which is at the heart of the Paris agreement.”
“They highlight that the purpose of the Paris agreement is to enhance the implementation of the Convention in order to achieve its objective,” they said.
They significantly also stressed that “differentiation does not weaken collective effort to tackle climate change, it rather paves the way to its global effectiveness.”
However, as per the reports from Paris, the draft showed that there were some movement forward on issues like adaptation but deep differences continue to divide the developed and the developing nations on critical issues of climate finance, technology transfer, loss and damage, and historic responsibility of industrialised countries for global carbon emissions.