FOUR of the world’s largest and fastest-growing carbon emitters, China, India, Brazil and SA, will meet in New Delhi this month ahead of a January 31 deadline for countries to submit their action plans to combat climate change.
The meeting could see the four countries emerge with a
co-ordinated approach on emissions reduction commitments agreed at last month’s United Nations (UN) climate talks in Copenhagen . Countries that support the Copenhagen accord, which the four helped broker, are meant to submit their “mitigating actions” to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat by January 31.
China has pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each unit of economic growth by 40%-45% from 2005 levels by 2020. For India, that figure is as much as 25% from 2005 levels by 2020.
SA committed to cut emissions 34% by 2020, conditional on a finance agreement.
China is the world’s top CO² emitter, while India is fourth and SA is 13th.
The talks this month will have a bearing on the much-anticipated binding climate change deal, likely to be sealed in December in Mexico. SA’s chief climate negotiator, Alf Wills, said yesterday that talks were likely to include commitments by the four on how to address climate change.
They would also discuss how they could “pull together” during negotiations later this year for a full multilateral agreement. The legally binding multilateral agreement would have to be adopted by all countries, whereas only 28 countries signed the Copenhagen accord, Wills said.
The non binding accord was seen as a failure by many. It fell far short of the original goal of a more ambitious commitment to fight global warming by all nations.
The Copenhagen accord left specifics to be ironed out this year, angering many developing countries and some of their developed counterparts .
The accord was “noted” only, and not adopted at the Copenhagen conference.
The meeting of the four countries’ environmental ministries is likely to be held next weekend.
“The meeting has been called to co-ordinate the positions of the four countries with respect to the submission of actions and future negotiations. Beyond that, the meeting is also going to discuss any problem areas that any member country raises,” a senior Indian environment ministry official said.
Tristen Taylor, project coordinator for Earthlife Africa, said yesterday that the four countries should use the Copenhagen accord as a starting point for a legally binding treaty.
But he warned that the accord was seen as a political one by some countries, and that it was unlikely to lead to a reduction in global emissions. With Reuters
njobenis@bdfm.co.za