At the recently held UNFCCC Cop 14 negotiations at Bonn, India’s Special envoy of the Prime Minister for Climate Change Shri Shyam Saran read out a statement on 11 June 2009 on India’s assessment of the current climate change negotiations leading up to Copenhagen. Following are the brief summary of the same.
Dear Friends, Representatives of the Media,
I welcome this opportunity to meet the distinguished members of the media and to share with you assessment of the current state of play in the ongoing negotiations leading up to Copenhagen. This will be a brief opening statement so that we have more time for interaction and give you an opportunity to pose any question that you may have.
In the Working Group on Long – Term Cooperative Action, we have completed the second phase of our work and now possess a working document which should enable delegations, in the third phase, to begin the exercise of formulating convergent texts, wherever possible, and identifying areas which still need further reflection and engagement. It is our conviction that as long as delegations adhere to the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC and follow faithfully, the mandate spelt out in the Bali Action Plan, a comprehensive, balance and equitable outcome in Copenhagen will be achieved. Let us not forget the objective of these negotiations is not a new Climate Treaty, but rather the enhanced implementation of the principles and provisions of the existing and valid climate treaty, which is UNFCCC.
The parallel track being pursued at these negotiations is the Kyoto Protocol tract. Here again, there should be no ambiguity about what our objective is. We are not negotiating a new Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol does not cease to exist in 2012. It will remain valid and in effect until such time as the State Parties decide to abrogate it or amend it or decide to replace it with another legal instrument. This is not what these current negotiations are about. They are about commitments on emission reductions, to be assumed by developed country Parties, included in Annex I of the Protocol, for the second commitment period which will commence in 2013. It is a matter of deep regret that most Annex I countries are unlikely to meet their emission reduction obligations set further for the first commitment period. And it is a matter of even deeper concern that there has been hardly any progress on the achieving the key objective of our negotiations, that is to announce the second commitment period targets, which must be of a scale equal to the challenge we face from global climate change. Some individual targets that have been indicated fall far short of what is required, and there are inadmissible attempts to abandon the agreed baseline for emission reductions, which in the Protocol, is set at 1990. We hope that by the time we return to Bonn in August, this unsatisfactory state of affairs, will witness positive change. A Copenhagen outcome without clarity on this important issue is unlikely.
In India, we have a new Government in office, headed by Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. It is our intention to put action on climate change among the list of key priorities for the Government. We have completed the elaboration of most of the National Missions included in the National Action Plan on Climate Change. These detailed mission documents will now be considered by the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change, chaired by the PM himself, before implementation proceeds. The elaboration and prioritization of the remaining Missions is being stepped up and should be completed shortly. Taken together, these national missions will significantly enhance the ecological sustainability of India’s growth, spur technological innovation, and ensure that energy does not become a constraint on India’s ability to achieve the scale of accelerated development it requires to eradicate poverty.
I will be happy to take any questions you may have.
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