UN Climate Change Negotiations 2012: BASIC nations chalk out Doha strategy

NEW DELHI: A week ahead of the Doha round of United Nations sponsored negotiations on climate change, the BASIC countries-Brazil, South Africa, India and China-met in Beijing to chalk out their strategy.

The advanced developing countries' agenda for Doha will focus on the Kyoto Protocol, the only global legal agreement to tackle climate change, and increased emission reduction efforts by developed countries.

Though the group is yet to outline a proposal for implementing equity, the group stressed on the "centrality" of equity, the differentiation between developing and developed nations, provision of finance and technology transfer.

The BASIC countries made it clear that there would be no backing off from the demand that industrialised countries take on legally-binding quantified emission reduction targets under Kyoto Protocol for the second phase commencing January 2013.

This will place them on a collision course with the European Union, yet again. The European Union has said that at Doha it will make a "political commitment" to undertake emission reduction targets.

This would mean that the emission reduction targets would not be legally binding on the EU- The 27-member group has said that a legal commitment would only be possible once each of its members individually ratify the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol.

The countries made it clear that only those who participated in the second phase of Kyoto Protocol could take the benefit of market mechanisms.