 "Paris inches away from global climate agreement")
The 196 countries gathered at Le Bourget, Paris prepared to accept the Paris agreement and the attendant decisions. The French hosts presented the final version of the Paris package in the afternoon giving countries time to read the text before it is gavelled for approval.
The Union environment, forests and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar welcomed the text saying on first reading it seemed to reflect all the concerns of the developing countries, including the operationalisation of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Countries began meeting in groups to review where they stood and how happy they were with their point of views being reflected.
India’s internal assessment showed some concerns on how the differentiation had been implemented across various streams of the agreement with weakness particularly evident in the section requiring countries to report their actions. Minister Javadekar said he would express some of the concerns in the meetings to be held soon.
Sources informed that the US too had some reservations with the agreement and were likely to approach the French presidency with it.
The Paris package comprises of two sets of documents that the 190 countries would adopt, or not later in the evening. First is called the Paris Agreement and the other is a decision that the Conference of Parties would also adopt to operationalize details of the agreement. At the moment, technically, the agreement is an annexure to the decision that the countries will adopt. If they do so then the agreement will become a live document with its own life.
Some of the contentious issues that developed countries or others did not want reflected in the durable agreement were shifted down in to the decision which is legally less onerous but experts noted that the agreement itself did not provide for any punitive action for countries not meeting their obligations so the two documents held the same weightage in practical terms.
The agreement also does not provide the option for countries to put reservations to any part of the agreement while accepting the rest. This lack of the space for countries to dissent, a gamble by the French, many said could pay off considering their strong diplomatic endeavour through last few months to secure a success.
India too internally contended with the question of whether it was possible at this late stage to save itself from some of the mine-fields the agreement and the decisions promised to open in future. Like in all multilateral agreement, creative ambiguity – using language that leaves the meaning of phrases and sentences open-ended for countries to interpret the way they like – seemed to be the hope that on Saturday evening the countries would pass the Paris package. To give an example, the agreement itself did not say that it was being signed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or that it would follow the provisions of the convention. But it said it would follow the principles of the convention while enhancing the implementation of the agreement. The decision to be taken by the COP on the other hand mentioned that the agreement was under the convention.
Before presenting the two final documents the French foreign minister and President had made moving speeches to wide acclaim by those gathered. But that clapping had soon faded as countries began reading for the fine print. Yet, delegates noted that the pressure at the final meeting, called the plenary, would be too high, to raise concerns unless countries had serious problems with the contents.
The French tried to resolve the big fight over climate finance by lobbing it in to the decision asking developing countries to provide more finance in the post-2020 era using $100 billion as a benchmark.
As per the US demands an explicit reference to foregoing any compensation or filing liability claims against developed countries was provided in the decision text.
Overall the agreement had moved substantially away from the original convention. In the convention the actions of developing world are enabled by the provision of finance and technology. In the final version of the Paris package, the trigger had been weakened. Countries would get to do what they want to reduce emissions and they would get financial support that the developed countries give. But, the latter would not be held deeply accountable for how much they had provided. For India, on preliminary reading, in several parts it had been able to retain some space for future economic growth but there was little at the moment in the package to suggest countries would substantially ramp up action in coming years or that developed countries would continue to take the lead in doing so.
A negotiator from the Like-Minded Developing Countries of which India and China are part said that on preliminary read their Super red-lines or issues on which they were absolutely not willing to compromise seemed to have been protected.
At the time of writing this report the countries were yet to meet collectively to gavel the decision and the agreement through by complete consensus. But the French diplomacy so far had ensured that this was the closest these 196 countries have ever come to hammer together a new agreement ever since the original climate convention was approved in 1992.
The Union environment, forests and climate change minister Prakash Javadekar welcomed the text saying on first reading it seemed to reflect all the concerns of the developing countries, including the operationalisation of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Countries began meeting in groups to review where they stood and how happy they were with their point of views being reflected.
India’s internal assessment showed some concerns on how the differentiation had been implemented across various streams of the agreement with weakness particularly evident in the section requiring countries to report their actions. Minister Javadekar said he would express some of the concerns in the meetings to be held soon.
Sources informed that the US too had some reservations with the agreement and were likely to approach the French presidency with it.
The Paris package comprises of two sets of documents that the 190 countries would adopt, or not later in the evening. First is called the Paris Agreement and the other is a decision that the Conference of Parties would also adopt to operationalize details of the agreement. At the moment, technically, the agreement is an annexure to the decision that the countries will adopt. If they do so then the agreement will become a live document with its own life.
Some of the contentious issues that developed countries or others did not want reflected in the durable agreement were shifted down in to the decision which is legally less onerous but experts noted that the agreement itself did not provide for any punitive action for countries not meeting their obligations so the two documents held the same weightage in practical terms.
The agreement also does not provide the option for countries to put reservations to any part of the agreement while accepting the rest. This lack of the space for countries to dissent, a gamble by the French, many said could pay off considering their strong diplomatic endeavour through last few months to secure a success.
India too internally contended with the question of whether it was possible at this late stage to save itself from some of the mine-fields the agreement and the decisions promised to open in future. Like in all multilateral agreement, creative ambiguity – using language that leaves the meaning of phrases and sentences open-ended for countries to interpret the way they like – seemed to be the hope that on Saturday evening the countries would pass the Paris package. To give an example, the agreement itself did not say that it was being signed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or that it would follow the provisions of the convention. But it said it would follow the principles of the convention while enhancing the implementation of the agreement. The decision to be taken by the COP on the other hand mentioned that the agreement was under the convention.
India's Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, left, speaks with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon prior to a bilateral meeting at the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Le Bourget, north of Paris
Before presenting the two final documents the French foreign minister and President had made moving speeches to wide acclaim by those gathered. But that clapping had soon faded as countries began reading for the fine print. Yet, delegates noted that the pressure at the final meeting, called the plenary, would be too high, to raise concerns unless countries had serious problems with the contents.
The French tried to resolve the big fight over climate finance by lobbing it in to the decision asking developing countries to provide more finance in the post-2020 era using $100 billion as a benchmark.
As per the US demands an explicit reference to foregoing any compensation or filing liability claims against developed countries was provided in the decision text.
Overall the agreement had moved substantially away from the original convention. In the convention the actions of developing world are enabled by the provision of finance and technology. In the final version of the Paris package, the trigger had been weakened. Countries would get to do what they want to reduce emissions and they would get financial support that the developed countries give. But, the latter would not be held deeply accountable for how much they had provided. For India, on preliminary reading, in several parts it had been able to retain some space for future economic growth but there was little at the moment in the package to suggest countries would substantially ramp up action in coming years or that developed countries would continue to take the lead in doing so.
A negotiator from the Like-Minded Developing Countries of which India and China are part said that on preliminary read their Super red-lines or issues on which they were absolutely not willing to compromise seemed to have been protected.
At the time of writing this report the countries were yet to meet collectively to gavel the decision and the agreement through by complete consensus. But the French diplomacy so far had ensured that this was the closest these 196 countries have ever come to hammer together a new agreement ever since the original climate convention was approved in 1992.