CSE calls for equity in climate negotiations

NEW DELHI: With nations from across the globe gearing up for a crucial climate summit in Paris, the Delhi-based think-tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Thursday called for “equity between developed and developing countries” in the upcoming negotiations and appealed negotiators to negotiate strongly to get a kind of deal in the French capital next month which addresses the development needs of countries in South Asia and Africa.

“Climate negotiations are considered by governments to be a soft issue while trade negotiations are given priority. It is critical that countries from South Asia and Africa send their best people and negotiate hard on climate change,” said Sunita Narain, director general of the CSE.

She was speaking at a gathering of around 100 journalists from India, South Asia and Africa who have been attending the CSE’s two-day annual media briefing on Climate Change.

Many issues including countries’ climate action plans – called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) – and inadequacy of the commitments made by the rich countries were discussed in the gathering in the context of the upcoming summit (COP21) in Paris where countries are expected to sign a global climate deal.

“This year, too, the climate change negotiations are very important. The world is already looking at the prospect of not containing global warming within 2 degrees Celsius. Recently, the emission plans of 146 countries were put out by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These emission reduction plans will not contain temperature rise below 2 degrees,” said Chandra Bhushan, the CSE’s deputy director general.

Bhushan also flagged that there was a 25% ‘ambition gap’ until 2030. He said only 250 billion tonne of carbon budget will be left after 2030. “Much of Africa and India will not have met their development needs by 2030,” he said.

Emphasising the importance of viewing cumulative emissions by countries rather than the current annual emissions, Narain said, “It is due to the emission by developed countries such as the United States that the world has reached this state where it has to restrict emissions and global warming”.

Keeping the ground realities in view, the CSE has long been demanding that the "fairness and equity" must be the key for ensuring that the developing countries meet their development needs while the world contains global warming.

Carbon budget:

* UN's IPCC estimates that world can emit only about 2900 billion tonne (giga tonne or Gt) of carbon dioxide from pre-industrialization level till 2100 to stay below 2 degree Celsius global warming

* World has already emitted 1,900 Gt of carbon dioxide till 2011

* World will emit 748.2 Gt out of remaining 1,000 Gt of carbon dioxide by 2030 (It means the aggregate INDCs will finish 75% of the carbon budget by 2030)

* So, the aggregate INDCs will not leave enough carbon space for poor\developing countries to grow beyond 2030

* UNFCCC analyzed the INDCs of 146 countries, including China, US, European Union (28 nations) and India, who have submitted their plan as on October 1