Paris Climate Change draft upsets India [1]
Monday, October 19, 2015 - 15:40. Updated on Monday, October 19, 2015 - 17:44.
The first draft of the Paris Climate Change Agreement has left the Indian government and its negotiators upset because it ignored many submissions from developing countries.
Countries will gather at Bonn from October 19-23 to negotiate further on this draft before the final Paris round of talks on 30 November for two-weeks.
The first draft breaches India’s non-negotiable red lines or issues and is unwelcoming to the country’s interests at the talks, negotiators concluded in their preliminary assessment, reported the Business Standard.
The wall of differentiated responsibilities between developed and developing countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been broken in the draft agreement.
The draft focuses deeply on mitigation or reducing emissions and is shallow on issues of finance, adaption, technology sharing, capacity building, loss and damage.
Developed countries have been let off easily on their financial obligations without a road map to deliver on their existing obligations or enhancing future commitments. Instead, developing countries such as India have been asked to contribute to the global climate finance pool.
The principle of historical emissions and equity has been jettisoned out of the draft agreement to bring developed and developing countries on a par. The draft dilutes the existing obligations of developed countries to transfer clean technologies. It does not even acknowledge that the Paris agreement would operate under the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC. These, among others are the concerns that plague the draft, the Indian team had said.
“The draft is unacceptable. It is an attempt to rewrite the UNFCCC convention through the backdoor and does not respect the existing principles and provisions of the very convention under which the Paris agreement is to be housed. It does not reflect most of our or other developing countries’ concerns.
It breaches our red lines (non-negotiable issues) and favours some developed countries", said a senior Indian negotiator.
Agreeing to this draft as it is will lead to the death of the convention (UNFCCC) the end of historical responsibility and equity, as we know it. It would allow for the greatest escape by developed countries of the obligations under the convention and for an upgrade of developing countries’ obligations, said Meena Raman of Third World Network, an observer group at the climate talks.
At the same time, many formal and key proposals from developing countries are missing.
Developing
Developing countries in a rare sign of unanimity within the larger G77+China group have consistently sought a clear road map from developed countries that they would deliver on their existing obligation of $100 billion annually by 2020 and work to increase this fund. But this finds no mention in the draft agreement.
The provisions of the convention require that the actions of developing countries are enabled by means of implementation (finance, technology and capacity building) by the developed world. That linkage has been weakened in the draft agreement to a point of non-existence said, another negotiator.
If there is one group that would be happy with this draft, it's the Umbrella Group, said another negotiator on the condition of anonymity.
This group is led by the United States and non EU countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Norway and Russia. The other influential block of countries the EU has also criticized the draft. While, the U.S has not formally reacted to the draft agreement text yet.
In the meantime, countries will gather at Bonn from October 19-23 to negotiate further on this draft before the final Paris round of talks on 30 November for two-weeks.