The Hindu : Front Page : Climate change talks at a critical stage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 09, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Climate change talks at a critical stage

N. Ravi

Differences remain on funding, technology transfer

Major Economies Forum meeting on Thursday expected to send a strong political message
$100 billion would be needed to move developing nations to green development mode

L’Aquila, Italy: Preparatory talks at the Major Economies Forum representing the G8 countries and the emerging economies seem to have made only partial progress, with substantial differences remaining between the G8 and the developing countries, particularly India and China.

These differences relate to the funding and transfer of technology to reduce carbon emissions as well as the targets to be set for overall reduction in emissions.

The Major Economies Forum meeting on Thursday is not a negotiating forum but it is expected to send a strong political message committing the industrial as well as the developing nations to reaching a strong and workable agreement on climate change in Copenhagen in December.

Dispute over base year

The G8 draft declaration, for which the agreement of the emerging economies was sought at the MEF summit, commits the participants to reducing greenhouse gases by 50 per cent by 2050, which is the same target that was agreed upon at the G8 summit in Japan last year. To achieve that goal, the industrial nations would have to reduce their emissions by 80 per cent.

What the declaration does not commit itself to is the base year from which the reductions are to be reckoned. The developing countries, including India and China, as well as the European nations want to set 1990 as the base year while the United States, Australia and Japan would push it to 2005.

More important for the developing countries is the mechanism for funding the investment needed to move to greener production systems and for adaptation.

An estimated $100 billion would be needed to move the developing countries to a green development mode, and that would include the expenditure on adaptation to climate change, forestry and changes in production technologies.

The approach of the industrial countries is that this also represents a business opportunity and the funds could come through investment from the markets, provided investor-friendly policies are adopted. For the really needy countries, official development assistance could provide the funding.

The other disputed area relates to transfer of technology. Much of the current technology is protected by intellectual property rights and the Indian stand is that for green technology transfer, a way must be found for the developing countries to obtain them without payment of high licensing fees.

In the absence of an agreement on how to move towards the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the final declaration that has been worked out by the sherpas in the preparatory meetings only commits the Major Economies Forum countries to limiting the rise in the average world temperature to 2 degrees over the pre-industrial times.

Whether the leaders meeting at the summit will be able to improve upon this commitment that is based on the report of the United Nations Inter-governmental Committee on Climate Change remains to be seen.

“No worthwhile action to curb terrorist attacks on India”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page