India under fire as climate talks deadlocked Cancun (Mexico), Dec 8, (IANS):

India came under fire to get its commitment to tackle climate change under a legally binding global treaty, but it declared this unacceptable as the UN climate summit became deadlocked here Wednesday despite round-the-clock negotiations behind closed doors.

The deadlock at the Nov 29-Dec 10 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference stemmed from the refusal by Japan, Russia and some other developed countries to commit themselves to legally binding greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

The formula suggested by other rich countries to resolve this impasse was to extend the current commitment period under the protocol beyond 2012, if India and other emerging economies agreed to join a treaty that would legally bound them down to their commitment to reduce emission intensity.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had declared earlier this would be "completely unacceptable" to India, and leaders of government delegations from China, Brazil and South Africa have echoed the same sentiment.


A senior member of the Indian government delegation told IANS on condition of anonymity that despite this, "developed countries tried very hard throughout Tuesday and through the night to make us agree, but we all stoutly resisted it. They threatened us that they would not give any money (to combat climate change and its effects) and hold all other agreements hostage. But this is one point on which we cannot give in, and we told them so."

This renewed bickering over an old issue threatens to wipe out whatever little progress had been achieved here to tackle the climate change caused by ever-increasing GHG emissions, which is already reducing farm output worldwide, making droughts, floods and storms more severe and frequent, and raising the sea level.

That progress was in the area of starting forestry projects to capture carbon dioxide - the main GHG - from the air. But that is now in jeopardy, and so is the progress made on transferring green technologies to poor countries. Agreement on that fell down at the last hurdle Tuesday night, as rich countries refused to let any discussion on intellectual property rights to be included in the proposal.

A lot of work has been done here on how this 'technology mechanism' will operate, but a final decision is now likely to be carried over into 2011. Also in jeopardy are the efforts made by India to build trust between industrialised countries and emerging economies.

One of the prickliest issues in these protracted negotiations has been the insistence by the US that it would do nothing - nor allow anyone else to do anything effective - unless China and India made the steps they were taking to tackle GHG emissions "measurable, reportable and verifiable".

All emerging economies have opposed this strongly for years due to fears over intrusion on sovereignty. A few weeks back, Ramesh came up with a proposal that would allow "international consultation and analysis" of these actions, a move that was welcomed in public by the ministers of China, Brazil, South Africa and by the chief negotiators of the US and the European Union.

Bureaucrats from all these countries have been working to flesh out the proposal, but now, with just three days left for the summit, everything has been put on hold due to the Kyoto Protocol logjam, because, as one American negotiator put it, "nothing is final till everything is final".

As the negotiators met back in open session here Wednesday morning, the chairs of various groups could do little but appeal to the over 100 ministers and around 30 heads of state assembled here to provide "political direction" that would break the logjam over the protocol - the only legally binding global treaty that obliges rich countries to reduce their GHG emissions.

The president of the conference, Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinoza, reminded the delegates gathered here that "every state has argued for continuation of our effort (on the Kyoto Protocol) well beyond 2012" and hoped that would form the basis of a compromise. But the chances looked bleak.

Source: Deccan Herald, 8-12-2010

World's largest solar-power boat arrives amid climate talks

CANCUN: The world's largest solar-powered boat has made a port call at the Caribbean resort of Cancun as negotiators from around the world struggle to work out a package of measures to curb global warming.

The 31-meter-long Turanor PlanetSolar, whose deck is covered with solar panels, is driven by solar-generated electricity alone and can cruise at maximum speeds of between 8 and 9 knots, according to its 64-year-old German owner, Immo Stroeher.

The boat, which has been on a voyage around the world, left Monaco in autumn and arrived Tuesday in Cancun, where a UN climate change conference is being held. It plans to complete the journey in the spring of 2012, he said.


"The theme of this ship and its around-the-world voyage is to create consciousness about what you can do with solar energy," Stroeher said, adding he wants to take his boat to the Japanese city of Hiroshima some day.

PlanetSolar, with six crew members but not the owner himself, is set to leave the Mexican resort on today for Cartagena, Colombia.

Delegates from nearly 200 countries at the 16th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP16, have until tomorrow to reach decisions after making little progress during the first week.

Source: Times Of India, 9-12-2010

India under pressure to accept legally binding pact at Cancun Cancun

As the climate change conference here winds down, India is coming under immense pressure to accept a ''legally binding agreement'' on climate change, which is causing rift within developing countries.

The United States, India and China are not in favor of accepting a legally binding agreement, which is supported by other developed countries, and several nations within the G77 including African nations and Least Developed Countries.

"There is a concerted move by a group of developed countries using developing countries to put pressure on India and China to accept a legally binding agreement," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

Pushing hardest for a legally binding treaties are small island nations, which are the most vulnerable to climate change.

Countries in India's vicinity - Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal - are also supporting a legally binding agreement.

India's close allies on the climate change issue - Brazil and South Africa - are also in favor of a legally binding agreement, which is causing divisions within the BASIC group.

"This pressure is coming from developed countries through AOSIS, BASIC and LDCs," Ramesh said, adding "India and China are united and Brazil and South Africa are united."

"At this stage India's strategy is to keep the door open, the door was being closed on us," he told journalists.

With the conference closing tomorrow, India has objected to raising the issue so late in the day.It has also said that currently it is important to concentrate on the Kyoto Protocol, which is the only legally binding treaty on climate change, but its future is uncertain since several countries want to abandon it.

Speaking at an open meeting here, Ramesh told delegates that "all countries must take on binding commitments under appropriate legal form."

Later, the minister indicated that he raised this point to assure countries close to India like Nepal and Bangladesh that New Delhi was committed to fulfilling its domestic commitments."We will honor these," he said, noting that India was not ready to reflect these in an international agreement yet.

The present discussion has also raised questions about what constitutes the "bindingness" of a treaty.India, for instance, argues that consensual decisions taken under annual climate conferences can be considered binding. Indian diplomats here also argue that New Delhi's promise to the parliament for cutting down carbon intensity can be considered binding since it's a "serious" nation.

Other countries, however, argue that binding needs to be more formal maybe on the lines of the Kyoto Protocol.India has also consistently argued that the substance of any outcome needs to be detailed before the form is decided - a position which is supported by Philippines and Egypt.

Ramesh indicated that India would not agree to any legally binding agreement until three things are clear — the content of legally binding, the penalty of non-compliance and the system of monitoring.

"We are not ready to commit to a legally binding treaty," he said.Bolivia, which also objects to a legally binding treaty, is concerned that this new pursuit will take attention away from the Kyoto Protocol, which puts the legal responsibility to cut emissions squarely on the shoulders of developed countries.

Ramesh also stressed that this episode busted the "mythology" that G-77 spoke as one voice."We are under attack inside G 77," he said. "India has to approach this issue very cautiously."

Source: Deccan Herald, 9-12-2010

Climate change: India to host 48-nation talks

India has once again taken an initiative to break the impasse on climate change. Ahead of the Cancun meet, it will host ‘informal’ talks between ministers from 48 nations to build a consensus on the contentious global mechanism for transfer of environmentally-sound technologies and matching funds to countries that would be most hit by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

The Ministerial Dialogue would focus on ‘concrete questions’ to promote understanding and work towards consensus building on establishing an International Technology Mechanism and a Financial Mechanism to cover the extra costs that developing countries would suffer on switching to expensive but climate-friendly technologies being pushed under the UNFCC.

“The goal of the roundtable is to enable ministers to assess the options from a practical and operational perspective, and channel political guidance into areas where it would be most strategic with a view to facilitate agreement at COP 16 (16th Conference of Parties) in Cancun,” says the concept note for the meet.

Source : Indian Express, 3-11-2010

Climate finance, key issue

BEIJING: Financial assistance from developed countries for projects to combat climate change in the developing world has emerged as a key sticking point at the climate meet in Tianjin, which is the last round of negotiations before the year-end Cancun conference.

Negotiators from India, China and other developing nations have called on the West to step up commitments with promises, as yet, falling short of expectations. Differences have also surfaced over developed countries repackaging earlier development aid as climate-related funding.

“You cannot simply fill a new bottle with old wine,” said Su Wei, director of the climate change department of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the country's chief climate negotiator.

Indian and Chinese officials have also expressed their frustration at attempts by negotiators from the West, particularly from the United States, to divide developing nations on the finance issue. Developed countries this week reiterated calls for large developing nations to commit to financing projects in less developed countries.

At the Copenhagen summit in December last year, developed countries pledged to commit $30 billion to “fast start” projects in the next three years. While much of this amount has been identified, differences have persisted on how much funding would be new commitments and how much would be derived from earlier pledged development assistance. Mr. Su said on Wednesday the money had to be “new and additional”, and not redirected from earlier commitments such as Overseas Development Assistance programmes. While Chinese officials this week played down expectations of a binding deal being reached at Cancun, they have identified climate finance as a priority for the year-end talks. “There is a lot of expectation of some agreement on climate finance being reached in Cancun,” Yang Ailun, Greenpeace China's head of climate and energy, told The Hindu. “The Chinese delegation has even defined the success of the Cancun conference in terms of climate finance.”

Differences, however, remain on how projects funded by financial aid would be measured, reported and verified (MRV) by developed countries.

Proposals from the U.S., according to sources, had called for strict measures in terms of data transparency as a condition for receiving assistance. Mr. Su said China had no objection to MRV for internationally-financed projects, as long as it “respected developing countries' sovereignty” and was “non-confrontational”. But what would fall within those terms remained unclear.

Green groups have criticised moves to link data transparency to climate finance. “It is a tactic to put pressure on countries like China and India, by saying that if you want to get financial aid from us, there needs to be a particular level of data transparency,” said Ms. Yang. “This tactic should be condemned, as developed countries, first and foremost, have a responsibility to commit aid. Linking this to another issue is irresponsible.”

Source: The Hindu,7-10-2010