Paris climate draft favours rich nations: Environment secretary

The 196 countries that are part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are expected to agree to a universal deal in Paris this December.

Published on: Oct 9, 2015, 20:47:12 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Fight over the Paris agreement on climate change has started with India firing the first salvo, terming the draft of the proposed deal released on Monday as lopsided and in favour of rich nations.

Fight over the Paris agreement on climate change has started with India firing the first salvo. (Agencies)

The 196 countries that are part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are expected to agree to a universal deal in Paris this December.

Of them, 147 countries have submitted their climate action plan, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), which is expected to be part of the new pact.

The review of INDCs is one of the most contentious issues to be settled before the deal and its mention in the draft released by the UN has not left the developing world happy. The draft speaks of the review once in five years and seeks a regular communication to the UN Secretariat with enhancement of the nationally determined climate action plan.

Officials say another area of concern was reference to a year when global emissions will peak or the world attains carbon neutrality. This means, intention to decide in Paris by when global emissions should peak, thereby indirectly imposing growth restrictions on developing countries such as India.

The draft fails to clearly state that the developed world should provide $100 billion by 2020 and keeps the text on climate finance ambiguous.

The demand of developing countries on $100 billion to be public funded has not been addressed and its reference is only with regard to communication to the parties.

“The Paris agreement is lopsided and does not contain concerns of the developing countries,” environment secretary Ashok Lavasa said during a discussion on India’s climate action plan 2030 at the Centre for Policy Research. “We are studying the text and will oppose it at next negotiation round in Bonn.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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