Climate change talks at a critical stage

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.

The Hindu, July 9