India at Katowice hopeful for reaching an agreement on 'rulebook'


Devdiscourse News Desk | Katowice | Updated: 14-12-2018 23:04 IST | Created: 14-12-2018 20:28 IST
India at Katowice hopeful for reaching an agreement on 'rulebook'
Mehta said idea about enhanced financing has been covered to some extent in the current text and encouragement to fulfil USD 100 billion is also captured in it. (Image Credit: Twitter)
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India on Friday indicated that the nations participating at the UN climate talks are likely to reach an agreement soon, as negotiations are on to draft a text on a rulebook for the full implementation of the Paris accord post-2020, even though key issues like finance remain unresolved.

With the UN Climate Change Conference (CoP24) about to conclude, Poland, the host nation, issued the draft of a text on a rulebook, which was criticised by civil society organisations terming it as a "weak" draft.

"Focus of this CoP is to create a rulebook. Very substantial progress has been made. There are some differences. We hope that will be sorted out,” A K Mehta, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, told a press conference on the sidelines of the negotiations.

"We are not far away from reaching an agreement," Mehta said as the climate talks are set to end.

The climate activists alleged that key issues like finance remain unresolved.

Mehta said idea about enhanced financing has been covered to some extent in the current text and encouragement to fulfil USD 100 billion is also captured in it.

By the time the final agreement is made, the Paris mandate will be fulfilled on finance as well, he said.

"The rulebook will be robust hopefully. It is robust because transparency framework is robust," he said.

He said most of the Indian concerns are very well reflected in the draft text.

Civil society organisations claimed the basic principles of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) such as equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDRRC) and matters agreed in the Paris accord, including on finance, have not been reflected in the draft text.

"On the whole, the analysis is that the current draft text is weak in terms of finance and raising ambition. It is still a long way to go to determine the finer details of the elements," Indian climate expert Chandra Bhushan said.

Bhushan, who is also the deputy director general of New Delhi- based advocacy group Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), alleged that developing countries have lost the fight for "flexibility to all" while providing information on their climate action.

He said it is a clear victory for the US, the EU and China.

According to the analysis prepared by the CSE, there is no mention of raising ambition in action and support post-2020 and integrating it with science.

For pre-2020, the developed countries are merely encouraged to step up their pre-2020 ambitions, it said.

"Loss and damage are the weakest and clearly implies that developed countries have turned a blind eye to the most existential impacts of climate change on poor and vulnerable countries," it said in its findings released to the media.

Harjeet Singh of ActionAid said the Paris rulebook is at risk of being a "total washout".

"A rulebook that doesn't reflect #LossAndDamage and a way forward on #ClimateFinance would be unacceptable," Singh tweeted.

Meena Raman of Third World Network (TWN) said, "It looks like US writings are everywhere in the text."

"Many concerns expressed by the developing countries are not there. But the US imprint is very very clear," she said.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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