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HomeEnvironmentCOP26 draft text unbalanced, should acknowledge role of historical emissions, India says

COP26 draft text unbalanced, should acknowledge role of historical emissions, India says

Developing countries, including India, are unhappy with the 'prioritisation' of climate mitigation measures over adaptation in the draft text.

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New Delhi: The COP26 Presidency Wednesday released a draft of its cover decision — a negotiated document that sets the tone for this year’s climate talks — causing further divide between developed and developing nations, just days before the conference is set to conclude.

The cover decision encapsulates what negotiations are geared towards, and can signal what future COP meetings can incorporate. Negotiations at the COP26 have been especially fraught because decisions regarding the implementation of the Paris Agreement — a 2015 global treaty to keep global warming “well below” 2 degrees celsius — are expected to be firmed up.

The draft decision calls for loss and damage finance, stronger climate targets next year, and for the first time ever, a phase-out of coal.

But developing countries, including India, are unhappy with the “prioritisation” of climate mitigation measures over adaptation in the draft text. Climate mitigation refers to reducing or stabilising warming greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, while climate adaptation refers to adjusting to current and future changes in climate. Developing countries need financial support to deal with both aspects of climate change.

“We feel that there is a need for balance between the finance and mitigation sections,” said India on behalf of BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, and China) during a closed-door meeting on the draft cover decision. India pointed out that when it comes to climate mitigation, the cover text acknowledges in detail the need “to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C,” but doesn’t do the same for climate finance.

India also said there was “no need” to single out one fossil fuel, and that all fossil fuels should be phased out, with developed nations taking the lead.  “Developing countries should actually be able to use their fair share of the global carbon budget and they should be provided with finance, technology transfer and capacity for a just transition in the context of their sustainable development and eradication of poverty.”

Bolivia, on behalf of the Like Minded Developing Countries (LDMC), which includes India, said, “The documents have a very mitigation centric approach. There is a lot of emphasis on processes, procedures, in the context of mitigation. But we don’t see the same approach in other sections of the draft text such as in loss and damage.”

Loss and damage refers to the impact of climate change that countries can’t adapt to, resulting in loss and destruction. Developing countries have demanded funds for loss and damage due to climate change, which is proving to be contentious at the COP26.

The European Union, during negotiations, said it was the responsibility of all nations, “not just developed countries”, to improve their disaster management, indicating a resistance to pay.

The draft is likely to undergo many rounds of negotiation before being finalised.


Also read: COP26 is not just about India’s commitment to climate change. It’s also a message to the US


The cover text

The cover decision came in the form of three texts — one for the Conference of Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (CP), a second for Parties that are signatories to Paris Agreement (CMA), and a third for Parties that are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP).

The draft text urges developed parties to scale up climate finance for adaptation and emphasises the need to keep the 1.5 degree goal within reach, recognising that it “requires rapid, deep and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, including reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 relative to the 2010 level and to net zero around mid-century.”

Developing nations and climate activists have said the cover text needs to be more equitable, recognising that all countries cannot reach the same goals at once.

India said the cover text should acknowledge the role of historical emissions in causing global warming today, and that the concept of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities, which recognises the different capabilities of different countries, needed “to be strongly emphasised in several critical parts of the texts.”

Harjeet Singh, senior advisor at Climate Action Network, told ThePrint the cover text was not “sufficiently ambitious,” and that it was missing the sense of urgency required at this juncture.

“This is a very imbalanced text that gives more weight to mitigation than adaptation, which is what developing countries need,” he said.

“Equity has to be embedded in the phase-out process when talking about fossil fuels. The document only mentions coal, but what about the others? Poorer, developing nations are more dependent on coal. We have to talk about all fossil fuels, including gas and oil, which developed countries rely on,” he added.

(Edited by Neha Mahajan)


Also read: Developing nations propose ‘at least’ $1.3 trillion/year in climate finance, face resistance


 

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