Worst possible outcome at Copenhagen, says CSE

The US-brokered climate deal with India and three other emerging economies reached at the fag end of the Copenhagen summit is "disastrous" for the world as it will allow rich countries to increase emissions, the Centre for Science and Technology claimed on Sunday.

The US-brokered climate deal with India and three other emerging economies reached at the fag end of the Copenhagen summit is "disastrous" for the world as it will allow rich countries to increase emissions, the Centre for Science and Technology claimed on Sunday.

HT Image

"The accord eliminates the distinction between developed and developing countries, prevents effective action to curb global warming and fatally undermines efforts to renew the Kyoto Protocol," CSE spokesperson Souparno Banerjee said.

After a consensus for an ambitious deal to tackle climate change eluded the 12-day Conference of Parties at Copenhagen, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama delayed their departures by several hours to hammer out a face-saving deal that asks both developed and developing nations to set their emission targets by February 2010.

"The accord will not only be disastrous for the climate, but will also freeze the inequity in the world for perpetuity," said CSE director Sunita Narain, who attended the discussions at Copenhagen.

"It agrees that developing countries' actions, which are not supported through international finance and technology also be open to international consultation and analysis, which could become a backhand way of bringing in international commitments on countries like India," she said in a statement.