Copenhagen deal disastrous for world: CSE

December 21, 2009 01:28 am | Updated December 16, 2016 02:56 pm IST - NEW DELHI

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Sunday came down heavily on the U.S.-brokered climate deal with India, China, Brazil and South Africa and described the Copenhagen earth summit deal as “disastrous” for the world as it would allow the rich countries to increase emissions.

“The accord eliminates the distinction between the developed and developing countries, prevents effective action to curb global warming and fatally undermines efforts to renew the Kyoto Protocol,” CSE spokesperson Souparno Banerjee said here.

After a consensus for an ambitious deal to tackle climate change eluded the 12-day Conference of Parties at Copenhagen, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama delayed their departures by several hours to hammer out a face-saving deal that asks both the developed and developing nations to set their emission targets by February 2010.

“The accord will not only be disastrous for the climate, but will also freeze the inequity in the world for perpetuity,” CSE director Sunita Narain, who attended the discussions at Copenhagen, said in a statement here.

“It agrees that developing countries’ actions, which are not supported through international finance and technology also be open to international consultation and analysis, which could become a backhand way of bringing in international commitments on countries like India,” she said.

Ms. Narain alleged that the accord used weak and inconsequential language on emissions cuts from the industrialised countries.

“It must be noted that, as yet, there has been an agreement that the industrialised countries must cut emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020. The Copenhagen Accord destroys this agreement as it does not set a firm peaking year for Annex 1 countries. It does not set time-bound targets for emission reduction from industrialised countries. Instead, it simply says that these countries commit to implement individually or jointly the emission reduction targets that they will themselves submit to the secretariat. In other words, these countries will be allowed to set their own domestic targets, whatever these may be,” she said.

The legally non-binding political deal promised to cut gas emissions to limit global temperature increases to two degrees celsius of pre-industrial levels and peaking of global and national emissions at the earliest, among other things. The deal has been rejected by a number of poor countries.

It will freeze inequity in world for perpetuity, says Sunita Narain

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.