As UN members meet in Bonn this month to discuss climate strategy, India has said it will not accept any pact that “erodes” the differentiation between rich and developing nations set forth in Bali Action Plan centred on historic responsibilities on greenhouse gas emissions.
The move is aimed at thwarting the developed nations’ attempt to dilute Kyoto Protocol and look for a new mechanism which would make growing economies like India take up legally binding emission cuts.
India has submitted its position on various aspects to Ad-hoc Working Group on Long Term Co-operative Action (AWG-LCA) of the UN on May 10 that would be in focus for discussions to move forward after the Copenhagen conference last December.
The text would be further discussed at a two-week meet in Bonn, Germany beginning May 31 in the run-up to the Mexico conference later this year.
Underlining its commitment to support the Least Developed Countries which face acute climate crisis, India has also made it clear that it would not accept any outcome that “creates new differentiation amongst the developing countries.”
The text clearly says that the outcome (of climate change negotiations) must enhance and not diminish Bali Action Plan and must be comprehensive specifying actions on adaptation, mitigation, technology and finance.
The Copenhagen Accord, agreed to by India in the last climate meet in December in Denmark, had outlined several elements of the global regime of monitoring, scrutiny and consultation for greenhouse gases (GHGs) reducing actions of both developed and developing countries.
“Being a political document and not legally binding, the Copenhagen Accord should not to be treated as the basis of a negotiating text unless it is agreed to and adopted by all the Parties,” it said.
India is of the view that while it is useful for the aggregate emission reductions objectives of Annex I Parties (developed nations) to be inscribed in a protocol or an agreement, it is not necessary for a legally binding outcome to take place in form of a pact or a protocol in order to conclude the process of negotiations in Mexico.
India has also rejected the developed nations’ suggestions to take peaking year for emissions on the notion that it is bound to rise due to growing economy and absence of technology and finance support to undertake mitigation.
On the issue of Monitoring, Review and Verification (MRV), India clarified that “its voluntary actions should, under no circumstances, be seen as taking on internationally legally binding commitments by these (developed) countries.”
Regarding technology transfer, India has sought a multilateral mechanism that should finance and facilitate collaborative research in future low-carbon technology and access to intellectual property rights (IPRs) as global public goods.
Though for the first time after Bali Action Plan India has agreed to global goal of limiting the temperature rise to 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, it said, “it must be preceded by a paradigm for equitable sharing of carbon space based on per capita accumulative emissions.”
