Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s deviation from the country’s stance on climate change (on allowing international scrutiny of its mitigation actions) has not gone well with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Today, it said the proposal on international measurement and verification of domestic targets was an uncalled for compromise at best and would not yield any positive result.
“India and China are on board on the controversial issue of opening up of international verification of domestic climate change mitigation measures and a proposal from India has already been given for consideration at the UN climate meet at Cancun in Mexico to allow monitoring, review and verification (MRV) and international consultation analysis (ICA) of steps taken by it to reduce carbon emission and impact of climate change,” Ramesh had said a few days back on the sidelines of an event.
“The strategy paper on ICA circulated by India at Cancun can best be described as a compromise and the proposal by the Union environment ministry on international measurement and verification of domestic targets will be counter-productive, ultimately leading to removal of distinction between developed and developing nations. The proposal is an ill-disguised effort on the part of India to be a deal maker for the US,” CSE said in a statement.
CSE has stated that the ministry regards the Copenhagen Accord as a grand bargain where Annex 1 countries agreed to provide fast-track finance ($30 billion) for adaptation in vulnerable countries like Bangladesh and the Maldives. In return, emerging economies (the countries in the BASIC group comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China) agreed to a regime where their actions would be measured, reviewed and verified.
“It is important to understand that MRV is a tool to remove differences between Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 nations. Therefore, even if our mitigation actions are voluntary and domestic, now they will be both reported and verified. This becomes a backhand way of breaching the firewall between industrialised countries ... and the rest of the world, which needs the rights to development. This is why the US has made it clear that all other action in the negotiations will be dependent on the progress made in this area,” said CSE director Sunita Narain.
She further said that is not clear why India wants to be the deal-maker for the US at this stage. The US has not given lived up to its basic and minimum agreement, arrived at Copenhagen. They have not made any funds available. “Why are we bending backwards to make even more concessions, without getting anything in return?,” she said,
Suggesting that Cancun must focus on the urgent need to cut emissions in fast warming world, CSE said that the industrialized countries continue to renege on their promise of cutting emissions at the scale that is needed.
“They want to pass the pain of the transition to countries like India. India must make it clear that we want an effective and equitous deal. Nothing less is acceptable,” the statement added.
