India today strongly advocated a "balanced approach" in the draft text of a new binding pact to cut global carbon emissions to make sure that polluting countries pay and not the poorest nations, as crucial UN climate talks remained deadlocked.
The negotiators from more than 190 countries, who have been in the Peruvian capital for about two weeks, have struggled to prepare the elements of the draft due to the logjam between developing countries and industrialised nations that haggle over the formula of sharing the burden for cutting emissions, and who should pay.
Several developing nations rejected a draft decision they said did not make the distinction between what rich and poor countries were expected to do.
The informal plenary regarding the Ad hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform (ADP) again met here after breaking at 4 am this morning. Parties reviewed the draft text and reconvened to state their positions on it.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar delivered India's statement, saying a "balanced approach" in the draft text was required to make sure polluting countries pay and not the poorest countries.
He began his statement by saying that what the like- minded developing countries, least developed countries and the Africa group are saying "must be appreciated" because they are all "speaking their heart".
Javadekar said India supports the genuine concerns of these groups.
India stuck to the consistent position that all the elements of adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology, and capacity building should be included in the intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs).
"Let us not forget billions of poor" because "every climate action has a cost," Javadekar said.
He ended the short statement by saying India will cooperate with the COP presidency in order to sort out any issues "in a balanced manner".
Meanwhile, the EU said the text is not congruent with what they wanted and some of the views are "weakly expressed" but accepted the draft text in an effort to move forward.
Tuvalu spoke on behalf of the least developed countries (LDCs), saying the text "needs some surgery" and that the LDCs are "very disappointed" because the most recent draft omitted any mention of loss and damage.
"We have deadlock," Chinese negotiator Liu Zhenmin told the conference. China sided with Malaysia and other developing countries that rejected the draft.
