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Copenhagen summit: Indian, Chinese PMs could meet informally | Efforts are on to facilitate an informal meeting between the prime ministers of India and China this morning, with sources in the official entourage saying there is a possibility of a 'pull aside' meeting between 7.30 and 7.45 a.m. Sources also confirmed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be making a short intervention during the informal Heads of State Plenary, and added that the gist of Dr. Singh's address would be to highlight the importance of preserving areas/issues where developed and developing
countries have arrived at a consensus, and to make a commitment to take the negotiation
process forward and beyond Copenhagen in areas/ issues where a consensus was yet
to be reached. Commenting on the outcome of the climate meeting here as on Thursday,
sources said as of now the discussions are still stalemated, but added that chances
of a consensus for taking the negotiations beyond Copenhagen are more brighter
than arriving at some sort of a deal or agreement. They confirmed that reports
prepared by chairs of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action
(AWG-LCA) and the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) have been
submitted to the president of the Conference of Parties-15 (COP-15) i.e. the Danish
Prime Minister-but categorically stated the most of the documents "are essentially
in brackets". They said the two reports will placed before the conference delegates
and the Heads of States for taking what they called a "procedural decision" which
would form the basis for continuing negotiations post-Copenhagen. They said there
is a chance for a broad consensus, and it was expected that a three-page draft
would be placed before the Heads of States, who in turn would deliberate on it,
and subsequently issue a communiqué that would essentially state that the negotiations
are going to be taken forward. Referring to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's
speech made here on Thursday, the sources said that Brown had pitched for a consensus
on four points - (1) That all 192 members countries attending the climate meeting
here agree that global temperatures would not go beyond the two degree Celsius
mark (2) That developed nations agree to reduce their carbon emissions by 80 percent
by 2015, but no mention of targeted figure by 2020 (3) That developing countries
commit themselves to fulfilling mitigating emission standards and (4) All countries
accept international verification of emission cuts. On the financial side, the
sources said that Brown has advocated the creation of a Fast Start Fund (FSF)
under which 10 billion dollars will be set aside every year for three years between
2010 and 2013 to meet the costs for emission cuts and secondly, a collection of
100 billion dollars between 2010 and 2020, which would acquired through public
resources, international financial institution funding and carbon market sources.
Sources said that while the above proposals were welcome, the developing nations
bloc have raised questions, notably that there is no mention of the obligations
agreed to under the UNFCCC and the Bali Action Plan (BAP), nor is there a mention
of the commitments agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol. "There is no clarity as
to what is the way forward. There is no specific mention of targets. A view is
being projected by the developed nations that a broad consensus is possible, but
major developing countries are preventing it from seeing the light of day and
that the latter are not willing to pitch in on the issue of emission cuts or on
the issue of international verification of domestic cuts," said a source. He further
said that developed nations are seriously attempting to move away from their agreed
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, which was an international and legally binding
document on emission cuts. He said there was a clause in the protocol that clearly
states that a country that fails to go through with its agreed emission cut up
to 2012, is liable to attract an additional 30 percent penalty of the value of
the said cut. There were very strict compliance procedures in the Kyoto Protocol
that could not be waived aside by the developed nations, he said. As far the role
of the United States was concerned, the sources said that Washington has signed
and ratified the UNFCCC and the BAP, but has not done so in the case of the Kyoto
Protocol. Washington 's earlier view was that instead of signing and ratifying
the Kyoto Protocol, countries could agree to "comparable (emission) commitments,
but now, was backtracking and saying that under no circumstances could the United
States be subjected to international compliance/procedures, but only international
verification. "The United States has effectively lowered the bar," one source
said. As far as the finance part of Brown's proposal was concerned, the sources
said developing countries were of the view that the amount mentioned was "hardly
enough" to help lesser developed countries (LDCs) and small island states (SIS)
to meet their respective costs for reducing emission standards. The best one could
hope for at Friday's informal Heads of States plenary would be a candid exchange
of views, an effort to convince the BASIC bloc and the African bloc to agree to
take the negotiation process on climate change into the year 2010. A short communiqué
could emerge reaffirming commitment to the UNFCCC and the BAP. |
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