Monday, December 2, 2013

Warsaw climate talks (COP19) ..... Green NGOs are playing an importantrole in the entire debate





India backs NGOs’ gesture at climate talks
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Nov 21, 2013, 09.51PM IST 
WARSAW: India on Thursday expressed its solidarity with the NGOs who walked out from the ongoing climate conference and said that it was a matter of deep concern for New Delhi that there has been absolutely no progress in any of the issues of interest of developing countries.

Reacting to an episode where most of the NGOs, including from India, walked out protesting against inaction of the developed countries in combating climate change and blocking progress in many important areas, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan said, "Discussions on crucial issues of direct importance to developing countries like Finance, Technology and Loss and Damage have remained deadlocked due to lack of will by developed country Parties".

"This comes in the backdrop of some developed countries actually reneging on their commitments or decreasing them, " she said.

Sharing sentiments of the NGOs, Natarajan appealed to developed countries to "show their determination to implement commitments and increase their ambition to address the mitigation gap and provide enhanced means of implementation and ensure that the negotiations reach a meaningful conclusion in the Conference of Parties (COP)".
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Warsaw climate talks .... rich vs. poor debate at COP19 .... wrestling over national interest through rhetoric .... a baby step towards Paris





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 India tells rich nations not to treat climate issues for providing market to domestic companies
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Nov 21, 2013, 07.37PM IST 

Enviromental activists march demanding more climate saving actions during the United Nations Climate Change conference in Warsaw. (AFP photo)
WARSAW: Hitting out at developed countries for backtracking on their commitments to fight climate change, India on Thursday used the UN climate talks platform to tell the rich nations not to treat global warming issues with a "business perspective of providing markets to domestic companies".

New Delhi also expressed dismay at decision of some of the rich nations — including Japan, Canada and Australia — to scale down ambition and lowering of targets of emissions.

Articulating country's stand over the entire issue of climate change, Indian environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan appealed the rich nations to take lead in fighting climate change, specifically when nothing concrete has emerged so far from the on-going climate talks.

Incidentally, her remarks came merely an hour before most of the NGOs including from India walked out from the Conference citing the rich nations' failure to deliver on the promises made by them.

"Warsaw (on-going UN conference on climate change) must act ... we must act and deliver here and now", said Natarajan, going a bit beyond her written speech while addressing a gathering of ministers/representatives from 195 countries here at National Stadium.

Though her speech stuck to what has been New Delhi's stated position for long, she chose the platform to raise the controversial issue of climate damaging HFC gases and let the gathering know what India thinks about it and put it out as part of her formal written speech.

In a remark which may not go down well with the US, specifically on HFCs issue, Natarajan said, "The issue should not be seen from a business perspective of providing markets to domestic companies".

Though she did not take names of countries or companies, her remarks articulated the concerns raised back home about reported attempts of US to push the issue of phasing down HFCs merely to benefit couple of American private companies who are manufacturing refrigerants using technology\substitute whose cost is quite higher than existing ones used in India.

Putting across India's stand quite emphatically, Natarajan said, "The issue of HFC has to be addressed by us under this convention (UNFCCC). In the meeting of Montreal Protocol in Bangkok last month, many countries, including some from G20, have opposed amendments to bring it under MP".

She made it clear that the developing countries including India would not move on it without complete clarity on the issue. She said, "Developing countries need clarity on identified substitutes, their costs, safety and economic feasibility.

Full speech of Jayanthi Natarajan at Warsaw Climate talks (PDF file)

The minister reiterated that the developing countries cannot take a "leap of faith without knowing the exact path and the pitfalls. It is time that we had an honest dialogue instead of raising rhetoric" — a remark which may also be seen as India's flexibility if it gets technologically effective and economically viable solution which the New Delhi had stated at other platforms as well in the past.

Montreal Protocol currently deals with phasing out only ozone depleting substances like hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC). Though the HFC is not the ozone depleting gas, it contributes to global warming and therefore its phase-out comes under the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC which puts the onus of its replacement or phasing down only on rich countries.

The NGOs which walked out from the climate talks include the Climate Action Network South Asia and Global Civil Society movements, expressing frustration over "empty talks". They stated that the talks have so far failed to address climate challenges in developing countries where people are dying due to cyclones like Phailin and Haiyan and flash floods......................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTEvMjIjQXIwMTkwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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Warsaw climate talks (COP19) .... economic considerations and national interests dominate Green issue






India sticks to stand on refrigerant gas
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Nov 21, 2013, 12.38AM IST 
WARSAW: India is not going to dilute its stand over the controversial HFCs, or climate-damaging refrigerant gas, issue and will strongly oppose any move by the US or other developed countries during the ongoing climate talks in view of the domestic concerns. New Delhi is clear that any change in its position will not only affect the common consumers but also several critical sectors, including defence.

Visiting environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan reiterated India's stand, saying, "Any move to shift HFCs to Montreal Protocol from the UNFCCC will call for an amendment".

She also emphasized that the decision would to taken only by consensus under the UNFCCC convention, signaling that any move by handful of rich nations, led by the US, is not acceptable to India.

Her categorical remarks came barely two days after the US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern claimed here that the Montreal Protocol (MP) had jurisdiction over the HFCs.

Using the same platform here on Wednesday, Natarajan told the international press that though HFCs are greenhouse gases; these are not ozone-depleting substances. "Hence, it cannot be dealt with under the Montreal Protocol...HFCs issues must be handled under the UNFCCC," she said.

Montreal Protocol deals with phasing out only ozone-depleting substances like hydro-chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC). Though the HFC is not an ozone-depleting gas, it contributes to global warming and consequently its phase-out comes under the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC that remains the sole prerogative of rich nations.

Natarajan didn't refer to Stern's remarks; she made India's stand abundantly clear by articulating the Cabinet's decision on the matter.

Seeking to clarify the issue, which has long been a bone of contention between developed and developing countries, Stern on Monday had said, "The institution that is born to do this (phase down of refrigerant gases) and has jurisdiction over HFCs is the Montreal Protocol....The MP has built in differentiation (to deal with the issue). It is not the same kind of differentiation like the UNFCCC but it has got differentiation built in."

Dismissing suggestions that the UNFCCC principles should apply (for phasing out the HFCs), the US envoy said, "Let's just get some results".

New Delhi, however, didn't buy this argument and pitched for a status quo so that the issue can be addressed only under the Kyoto Protocol of UNFCCC, which accepts the principles of common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR), asking only rich nations to respond to phasing out greenhouse gases.

The minister said, "In view of the lack of safe, technologically viable and economically feasible alternatives, the issue of HFCs needs further examination and status-quo should be maintained for the present".

Though Natarajan preferred not to get into what Stern had said, her delegation members later questioned the US envoy's argument.

A negotiator said, "Had the US convinced of this argument of jurisdiction, it would not have proposed an amendment to bring the HFCs matter under the Montreal Protocol during meeting of parties in Bangkok in October".

He asked, "If the US thinks that the MP has jurisdiction over HFCs, why did it move an amendment?"

As many as 19 countries, including India and some G-20 nations, had vehemently opposed the America's move to deal the matter under the Montreal Protocol.

Sources, however, said that New Delhi was not all that rigid over the issue and it would first like to see the outcome of the Indo-US bilateral (joint taskforce) over the matter.

New Delhi would like to see whether its domestic industries — using refrigerant gas — are ready to move to alternatives that have low global warming potential. It will also have to weigh the stand of other BASIC (group of Brazil, South Africa, India and China) nations under their respective bilateral discussions with the US and European Union (EU) nations........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTEvMTkjQXIwMTUwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom 
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Warsaw climate talks (COP19) .... a heady mix of politics and economy through diplomatic intervention .... a baby step towards Paris





BASIC nations present united front against rich countries during climate talks
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Nov 20, 2013, 11.28PM IST 
WARSAW: Amid sign of disappointment among developing and poor nations, the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) Group on Wednesday presented a united front against the rich nations, asking them to fulfil their commitments in terms of finance and their respective targets to cut emissions.

Be it matters concerning setting up loss and damage (L&D) mechanism or the issue of the Green Climate Fund, all the four countries held a common view and alleged that the developed nations have backtracked on what they had promised earlier. The BASIC nations also supported the move of the G-77+China over the L&D and stand by the Group's walkout from the contact group meeting on loss and damage issue early this morning.

"We hear allegations from the other side. Let me make very clear we came here to talk. We came here to negotiate. We came here to a successful cooperation for the negotiation. We did not come here to start a blame game. We want to move ahead. Our position is very clear. We need a science-based agreement," Brazil's lead climate diplomat Ambassador Jose Marcondes de Carvalho told a press conference at the venue of UN Climate Change Conference here.

The joint press conference was also attended by Indian environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan who articulated New Delhi's position and enlisted what her country has voluntarily been doing to fight the menace of climate change.

None of the participating ministers of the BASIC nations during the joint press conference and even their meetings earlier deviated from their joint stand over all issues -- in a show of strength and solidarity which may push the developed countries to re-work their strategy in the remaining two days of talks if they want to show that the climate talks have not at all failed completely.
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Warsaw climate talks (COP19) .... show of strength by G77+China ..... a baby step towards Paris





Developing nations' bloc walk out over lack of commitment to climate fund
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Nov 20, 2013, 09.09PM IST 
WARSAW: In a rare show of strength against rich nations, the G77+China Group, comprising almost all developing countries, walked out of the negotiations on crucial Loss and Damage (L&D) issue early Wednesday morning. The move sent a strong message that poor nations are not going to give an elbow space to the US-led group unless they get commitment over financial aid.

Though the Indian representative was not there in the contact group meeting where the discussion on L&D was held through the night at the National Stadium here, New Delhi accepted the decision taken by the G77+China Group. The walkout has happened for the first time during the ongoing climate talks.

"We totally agree with the G-77 position. This is a very weak draft (on loss and damage) and we totally support the walkout. It is extremely diluted and makes no commitment to the loss and damage. This is not something that we can accept. We are part of the G-77," Indian environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan said when asked about the move.

L&D is a mechanism - coined by developing countries during previous climate conference - where poorest and most vulnerable nations want financial assistance on the premise that they had to suffer losses due to the damage caused by high emissions of greenhouse gases by rich countries during industrialization.

It also refers to their demand that they must be paid for the damage that will occur to life and property from the level of emissions already up there in the atmosphere and that cannot be prevented even by mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Besides the US, Australia and Canada have been adamant against setting up a separate mechanism and came out with a diluted draft during the contact group meeting.

The European Union (EU) showed some liberal approach but it also wanted the mechanism for L&D should not be finalized at least in the Warsaw conference of parties (COP19) on climate change issues.

Stating her country's position over L&D, Natarajan said, "In the context of vulnerability of the developing countries and small island states, India has advocated a special focus on loss and damage and mechanism to address it. It should be guided by an assessment of vulnerability of various countries".

As a solution to the existing impasse over the issue, she said, "A separate window can be created under the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to address it."

The GCF is meant to mobilize $100 billion annually, beginning 2020, for adaptation and mitigation efforts. The developed countries are yet to come out with any timeline for even the Green Climate Fund, leaving the poor nations quite suspicious of the rich nations' stand.

The walkout came a day after the G77+China had threatened to boycott the negotiations when rich countries stuck to their stand. The move, however, cannot be seen as a complete breakdown over the issue.

It is learnt that developed countries have been discussing the issues among themselves behind the scene so that they can finally come out with something concrete on the matter, specifically when the atmosphere here has been quite surcharged over what had happened due to Typhoon Haiyan that had left thousands of people killed in the Philippines just two days before the beginning of this climate conference.

Head of the Philippines' delegation, Yab Sano, during his inaugural speech on November 11, had left participants from 195 countries stunned when he broke down to tears while putting across his government's point of view referring to Typhoon Haiyan and asked the rich nations to honour their financial commitment.

The formal proposal of the Group, comprising 133 countries, over the L&D says the climate talks under the UNFCCC at Warsaw should agree "that the international mechanism is established to address loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change from extreme and slow onset events in developing country parties, especially the least developed countries and small island developing states and other developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change."
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Warsaw climate talks (COP19) .... a baby step towards Paris .... MNCs on sidelines of this mega event





UN bodies explore private-public partnership to find climate change solution
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Nov 19, 2013, 05.14PM IST 
WARSAW: Sensing that the government alone cannot bring climate change solution, the UN climate bodies on Tuesday launched a first of its kind platform where chief executives of big MNCs will join top government officials to share solutions, commitments and plans towards climate action at green talks which may end up as a robust deal in Paris in 2015.
India is also one of the participants at the inaugural Caring for Climate Business Forum where it is being represented by Tata Cleantech Capital.
Though this attempt is seen as a step to involve private sector in co-creation of climate change solutions, profile of participating companies -- including the Dow Chemicals -- will sure to raise an eyebrow in developing world including India.
Dow currently owns Union Carbide, the company responsible for the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy. Although Dow did not have any ownership in Union Carbide until 16 years after the Bhopal tragedy, its presence at any such forum always creates flutters all around in India.
The Forum is a joint initiative of the United Nations Global Compact, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat and UN Environment Programme. All Caring For Climate signatories, including companies participating in the forum, are first and foremost required to be signatories of the UN Global Compact.
It is expected that the CEOs of the participating companies will during their two-day meet showcase to diplomats, policymakers and world leaders the contributions that business and investors are making towards climate action.
Seriousness of such effort may be known later as, at present, this move is being debated whether it is merely an instrument of rich nations led by US to emphasize on market-based mechanism to deal with climate change which has been responsible for number of natural disasters across the globe.
"COP (Conference of Parties) 19 is a pivotal moment to both step up and showcase climate action," said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of UNFCCC.
"Businesses must be heard, leveraged and invited to develop scalable climate change solutions to drive climate action. This can create the political space for more ambition in the UN climate process, which as part of a virtuous cycle can in turn catalyze more business action,"" she said.
The UNFCCC claimed that the Forum will showcase some of the most innovative commitments and solutions for climate change from businesses, including plans by Ikea to use 100% renewable energy by 2020, and a new global framework by Dow to mitigate the footprint of large-scale events and help to produce the first carbon neutral Olympic Games.
It may be noted that the Dow's participation as one of the sponsors of London Olympics last year was resisted vehemently by India. New Delhi had even wanted that the company be dropped as sponsor of the London Games because of its links to the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.
The International Olympic Committee had, however, rejected Indian demand, arguing that the Dow Chemicals neither owned or operated the plant at the time of the Bhopal gas leak disaster.
The two-day Business Forum will conclude here with a report-back segment and a formal announcement of new commitments to action.......................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTEvMjAjQXIwMTYwNA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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Warsaw climate talks .... a baby step towards Paris .... pitch for money ..... coffer is still empty





Negotiators pinning hopes on rich nations’ bounty at climate talks
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Nov 18, 2013, 08.33PM IST 

A Greenpeace activist protests on Monday in front of the Polish economy ministry headquarters building against the World Coal Summit and the 19th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP19) in Warsaw. (Reuters Photo)
WARSAW: Though the ongoing climate talks has failed to bring cheer to developing countries as rich nations have, so far, not made any commitment to set aside a corpus to battle global warming, hope springs eternal for the negotiators.

They are expecting that the high-level ministerial round may throw up a pleasant surprise, where developed countries would finally pledge a sum —$20-$30 billion annually — for assisting poor nations towards their adaptation and mitigation efforts. Ministers from various countries start arriving here from Wednesday.

The United States' stand to link assistance to market-based mechanism, where it wants private players must play a key role without depending on public funding, continues to dominate the space, but inclination of other developed countries — largely from Europe — to provide aid is fuelling the hope.

Indian negotiators got a hint that some of the developed countries may try to impress upon the US so that the talks would not send a negative signal before the crucial climate pact that is slated to be finalized in Paris in 2015. "There have been discussions on enhanced action in the field of adaptation, mitigation, finance and technology transfer during structured dialogue. But in terms of action, we have not seen much coming further. We have not seen much movement on the implementations of the earlier decisions," said an Indian negotiator here.

He rued that though the participants gathered here to work on implementing the Kyoto Protocol, there is no timeline on this.

There is a growing belief that the developed nations may not be inclined towards a breakdown of talks.

The pledge for $100 billion per annum beginning 2020 — meant for reduction of future emissions by developing countries — has caused heartburns among the rich nations who want a market-based mechanism that advocates private players to take the lead without government's direct role.

Participants from developing countries, however, believe that the instead of settling for $100 billion annual fund, developed countries like the UK, France, Canada, Japan and Germany may commit $20-$30 billion for the next couple of years.

"There has to be some kind of roadmap for that... So we are looking for all these decisions when the ministerial rounds start," said the Indian negotiator.

He said developing countries would also like to be clear about how private investment work. "Is it some decision which private companies take on the basis of their own calculation, or on their own metrics of profits? How does it come to play and when does it come to play? What would be the size, what would happen if markets turn choppy? There is no clarity on private investment," he added.

Articulating developing countries' skepticism towards market-based mechanism, the official asked, "Is it just a diversionary tactics to put the discussion away from public funding?"

According to the principles of convention, it is public funding which has to address the climate change.

Addressing a press conference, the executive-secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, however, said, "This is not a pledging moment for the Green Climate Fund."

"Let's wait for the ministerial round to begin. We hope that the rich nations won't derail the process which will have adverse impact on the final climate deal which is to come up in Paris," said the negotiator.

The hope and despair come at a time when G77+China group is learnt to have threatened to walk out of the Warsaw negotiations if the developed countries did not stop blocking the key issue of loss and damage where the rich nations have to provide financial assistance to poor countries for the losses caused to them by the emissions from rich nations during the industrialization phase.

The Group has submitted a collective proposal on the negotiating table to set up a separate new mechanism of loss and damage. But, the US has blocked it.

Reacting over this contentious issue, the Indian negotiator said, "We have not been able to see any mechanism being put in place, which was decided during the last climate conference in 2012."

He added, "We (developing countries) have said that even if you don't create a new structure, create a window under Green Climate Fund for loss and damage"......................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMTEvMTkjQXIwMTUwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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