What is the issue?
- The 23rd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change concluded recently.
- While minor advances have been made, there are still some concerns with financing and the review mechanism.
What are the key outcomes?
- The Conference seems to have left some room for satisfaction with the following:
- alliances were formed for phasing out coal
- decision to putting up green buildings and accelerating eco-mobility
- recognising gender in dealing with the issue, in a Gender Action Plan
- decision to get indigenous people (adivasis) have a say in climate talks
- decision to look into the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture
- Above all, the developing countries stood as a solid bloc demanding a balanced deal.
- The key demands centred on getting agreed upon and including in the official agenda the ‘pre-2020 actions’.
- This is mainly in reference to the obligations of the developed countries under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that still has three years to run.
- There was also a demand for fixing a deadline for the ratification of 2012 Doha amendments to the Kyoto Protocol to give a legal shape to the ‘pre-2020’ commitments.
- An important outcome of CoP 23 is the 'Talanoa Dialogue'.
What is the 'Talanoa Dialogue'?
- The countries put in place a road-map for 'Talanoa Dialogue' which is a year-long process to assess the countries' progress on climate actions.
- Under this, it was agreed that the next two climate conferences, in 2018 and 2019, will have special ‘stock-taking’ sessions.
- This stock-take would focus on the ‘pre-2020 actions’ being taken by different countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- It would also include the progress made by developed nations in their obligations to provide finance and technology support to the developing countries.
- This brings a strong message to developed countries that post-2020 climate action as part of the Paris Agreement cannot be divorced from pre-2020 commitments.
What are the shortfalls?
- Viewed in isolation, the above developments mean satisfactory progress towards implementation of the Paris Agreement.
- However, relative to what needs to be done, these are less significant to make a substantial impact.
- Expecting that all countries keep up their Nationally Determined Contributions promises is far from reality.
- This is because national actions require cross-border funding and technology flows.
- However Paris agreement, in its overall approach, is not very specific about funding and technology support.
- Worsening the matters is US's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement despite being the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter.
- And China, despite being the second biggest emitter, while making a show of shutting down coal plants on its soil, is building more elsewhere in the world.
What lies ahead?
- Developing countries need money and technical know-how for dealing with climatic effects that are already upon them.
- The developed countries which are singularly responsible for the climate mess should be made to commit to funding and technology.
- India, being a developing country and being vulnerable to climate change should lead the fight against the skewness in approach to fighting climate change.
- The negotiators still have to do a lot of work on finalising the rules which would be adopted during the next Conference of Parties (COP24) in Poland in 2018.
Source: Indian Express, Economic Times
