Amid last ditch efforts to salvage the climate summit, the Danish government has come out with a draft accord that skips putting more onus on developed countries on emission cuts and mitigation targets but promises $100 billion in finance to developing countries by 2020.
The draft, which may undergo several changes during the negotiations, reflects the key Indian demand that only action involving international finances are open to scrutiny.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who held hectic parleys with the Indian team here, has made it clear that climate change cannot be addressed by perpetuating the poverty of the developing countries.
Among the world leaders attending the summit are US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
The draft was circulated after marathon negotiations among key players that stretched overnight. The document also refers to containing the global rise in temperature to 2 degrees Celsius before the greenhouse gases stabilise, in consonance with the Indian position.
More From This Section
The small island states, who are the most vulnerable to global warming, have demanded that the rise be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius as compared to pre-industrial times.
Details of the draft also mention the concept of peaking without mentioning a "peaking year" for carbon emissions.
Peaking year refers to an year when the greenhouse gases emissions in the atmosphere will reach the highest levels, before stabilising.
The key elements to India's measurability, reportability and verifiability (MRV) policy are that national communication (NATCOM) of the actions taken to the United Nations Framework Convention (UNFCCC) every two years, the second is that all supported actions like using funds or technology from abroad would be reported and third domestic MRV would be conducted by international guidelines.
Domestic MRVs will also be exchanged between parties on a voluntary basis for information purposes only. However, after the discussions the question remains whether these will be reflected in the text since negotiations will close shortly.
On the mysterious Danish text, Ramesh said it has "been buried". India, he said, was worried about the level of international security and intrusiveness on unsupportive action on which it was not going to compromise.
On the political declaration, the Minister said the Danish Prime Minister had stated that it was not a new draft. "I had asked him whether he has outsourced the preparation of the declaration. He said he has not outsourced it. It will be based on two texts that are agreed to by the negotiating groups," he said.
Ramesh said other important issues for India on which he had spoken of 'red lines' in Parliament include the concept of peaking year and the nature of legally binding commitments.
"We have bigger issues to find out. We should be the last one to be worried about transparency. We have one of the most transparent systems in the world. We have one of the most accountable systems in the world," he said.