US, France divided over legally binding nature of Paris climate deal

Divide over new climate deal to be decided in Paris this winter was wide open on Thursday, with a spar between two rich nations -- French President Francois Hollande and US secretary of state John Kerry -- over the nature of the proposed agreement.

Updated on: Nov 13, 2015, 01:32:58 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Divide over new climate deal to be decided in Paris this winter was wide open on Thursday, with a spar between two rich nations -- French President Francois Hollande and US secretary of state John Kerry -- over the nature of the proposed agreement.

Boards reading ‘The planet is in our hands’ (L) and ‘We cannot say to our children that we did not know’ (R) are pictured in the site of the COP21, Paris Climate Conference in Le Bourget, north of Paris, France. (AP Photo)

Kerry had said that there cannot be a deal in Paris if the agreement was “binding” for nations, while Hollande hit back saying Paris will have to deliver a “binding treaty”.

US secretary for state John Kerry, in an interview to The Economist, said that Paris “definitely” cannot deliver a “treaty” which would stipulate binding emission cuts for countries.

The agreement, he said, would contain measures to drive a “significant amount of investment” towards a low carbon economy and will not have binding emission-cut targets like the Kyoto Protocol -- the existing climate protocol -- had.

His statement has brought out differences among the rich nations with the European Union, insisting on a binding treaty to be legally enforced.

The EU believes Paris should deliver a “universal international treaty” with binding targets for each country or else the Paris agreement will have no “meaning”.

French President Francois Hollande on Thursday warned there will be no deal at the upcoming world climate summit unless it is binding.

Agencies quoted the President as saying that “if there was not a binding accord, there will not be an accord”, in reaction to Kerry’s comments.

Nature of the proposed climate agreement that would be applicable from 2020 onwards is the biggest sticking point for 196-nation Paris meeting, starting from December 30.

Countries like United States claim that a universal agreement means all nations should have voluntary target for emission control with a proper review and measurement mechanism.

The EU also wants universal agreement with binding targets for every nation.

The developing world, including India, believes that binding targets should be applicable only for the industralised countries -- responsible for carbon-induced climate change -- as enshrined in the United Nations climate convention.

They also say the developing world should take only voluntary targets as per differentiation implemented in the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol provided for emission cuts only for rich nations, also called Annex nations.

Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar made it clear at a pre-summit meeting in Paris earlier this week that there should be commitment to “differentiation” in all core elements of the Paris deal.

He also sought “realistic” ambition to reduce global warming-causing carbon emissions from the developed world.

Kerry’s statement after the pre-COP meeting indicates that the US is not happy with the way negotiations have proceeded. He also put a question mark over the agreement in Durban in 2011 where it was decided that the Paris deal would be one with “legal force”.

Indian officials who participated at the pre-COP meeting said US will have to play the role of play-maker if Paris has to deliver, or the world will get a weak agreement this winter.

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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