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    Big nations’ climate pledge silent on finance, technology aid to developing world

    Synopsis

    These contributions encapsulate the aims and policies that countries promise to abide by after 2020 to tackle climate change.

    ET Bureau
    NEW DELHI: The climate action plans submitted by big emitters like the United States, European Union and Russia mark a serious commitment to inking a global deal at the year-end UN-sponsored climate negotiations in Paris. However, these pledges, or in climate negotiation parlance, Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), are far from adequate, and focused on reducing the amount of carbon produced while maintaining silence on providing finance and technology to developing countries, and on adapting to climate change.

    Experts warn that the low level of ambition will achieve little by way of slowing down global warming, and that the absence of commitments on finance and technology will do little to bridge the trust deficit between rich industrialised and poor developing countries.

    These contributions encapsulate the aims and policies that countries promise to abide by after 2020 to tackle climate change. But with these plans focused solely on reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced, the old and deep differences between the rich industrialised and poor developing countries are once again surfacing.

    India has said that to ensure successful outcome in Paris, the climate change pledges for the post-2020 period must address reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as well as ensure provision of adequate finance and technology to help developing countries. These pledges, or INDCs, will form the basis of negotiations at the UN-sponsored talks in Paris.

    Developing countries have consistently pointed out that the post-2020 global compact must give equal importance to reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. India has said that an effective global deal must include provisions of finance and technology as well.

    “Without contributions on finance and technology, it will be difficult for developing countries to make ambitious efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. There is a crucial link between availability of adequate and predictable funding and technology and the ambitious efforts to reduce emissions,” a senior official explained.

    India, which is likely to submit its plans in the third quarter of the year, proposes to include two sets of plans. The first, on efforts to slow down global warming, it will take by using its own financial and technological resources, and the second, on actions it can take provided New Delhi gets financial and technological support.

    The absence of predictable financial and technological support from industrialised countries has led to a trust deficit between developing and developed countries. “The overwhelming focus on reducing emissions doesn’t help matters. Developing countries have been voluntarily increasing their efforts to address this global problem, but instead of stepping up their efforts, industrialised countries seem to be passing on the responsibility to developing countries, particularly countries like India, China, South Africa, and Brazil,” said a developing country negotiator.

    Mexico, which accounts for 1.5% of global emissions, was the first developing country to submit its pledges, has made an unconditional pledge of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants like black carbon by 25% by 2030, implying a peaking of its emissions by 2026.


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