Hon’ble Chairman/Speaker,
1. The
Climate Change Conference of Parties under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol was held in Lima
(Peru) this year. The final decision was
reached after long deliberations and intense negotiations between parties. The key focus of the current negotiations
were the following:-
(i)
Finalisation of
elements of the draft negotiating text for 2015 Paris Agreement in view of the
Durban (COP 2011) decision to finalise “a protocol, another legal agreement or
an agreed outcome with legal force,” applicable to all, by December, 2015;
(ii)
Identification of
information to be submitted with the Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions (INDCs) in pursuance of the Warsaw COP (2013) decision wherein it
was decided that countries that were ready to do so would submit the INDCs by
March, 2015 and other countries would submit their INDCs as early as possible;
and
(iii)
Enhancement of pre-2020
actions which was part of the Warsaw mandate to be taken forward in Lima.
2. I
had the privilege and responsibility of leading the Indian delegation that
participated in the Lima Conference. India participated in the Conference with
a constructive and positive approach.
Our main task was to protect India’s long term interests and emphasize the need for growth and development space to tackle the
problem of eradicating poverty, providing energy access to all and address
other developmental priorities. In this endeavour, we were guided by the vision
of the Government and Cabinet mandate.
Our stand in the negotiations was also guided by the principle of Equity
and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities, which is the bedrock principle
of the UNFCCC.
3. Against
this backdrop, I am happy to inform the House that the Lima Conference took
some important decisions and came out with a ‘Lima Call for Climate
Action.’ India was able to play an
active role in representing the interest of developing countries by
constructive cooperation with like-minded developing countries and effective
and persuasive presentation of its national position.
4. The
Conference decided that the new agreement will be under the Convention and will
reflect the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and
Respective Capabilities in the light of different national circumstances. It was also agreed that the new agreement
will address all elements that is mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology
development and transfer, capacity building and transparency of action and
support in a balanced manner. The
current submissions and views of Parties were captured in the form of an Annex
and it was decided to continue discussions on the issue in future meetings of
the Ad-hoc Durban Platform (ADP).
However, this will not prejudice the legal form of the agreement or the
subsequent submission or views by Parties.
The draft placed in the Annex text has to be finalized by May, 2015 for
being placed for consideration and adoption of Parties in the Paris COP 21 to
be held in December, 2015. The
recognition that all elements need to be addressed in a balanced manner is a
key outcome of the Conference as there were efforts by some Developed Countries
to undermine the basic tenets of the Convention.
5. Another
key decision was regarding the INDCs to achieve the objective of the Convention
as set out in Article 2 of the Convention.
Here, it was decided that countries should not backslide from current
pledges. This is especially relevant in
view of the action of some countries, which had gone back on their Kyoto
Protocol commitments. The Lima
Conference agreed that the contribution of countries has to be more than their
current commitments.
6. The
Parties have been requested to communicate their INDCs as early as possible (by
first quarter of 2015, by those who are ready to do so). Some Parties were endeavouring to impose an
ex-ante assessment of the INDCs in the process.
It meant that the INDCs would be mitigation centric and that after
countries submit their INDCs, these would be aggregated to ascertain whether
the sum total of contributions is adequate to achieve the global goal of
containing temperature rise to below 2 degree Celsius by the end of the century
from pre- industrial levels. Any gap
between the two could mean pressure on countries to re-submit their INDCs or
enhance their contributions. However,
India and many other countries of the developing world were not in favour of
such externally imposed review as it would compromise the sovereignty of
Parties in determining their targets as per their national circumstances. We have been able to successfully ensure that
countries can include adaptation, finance, technology transfer etc also in
their INDCs in addition to mitigation and there is no “ex-ante assessment” to
be undergone. Now countries have be
submit quantifiable information on the reference point (base year), time
frames, scope and planning process, assessments etc. related to the INDCs. This would only be published on the UNFCCC
website and a Synthesis Report of the aggregate effect of the INDCs of those
Parties that have communicated their INDCs by 1st October, 2015 will
be prepared by 1st November, 2015.
7. The
enhancement of action in the pre-2020 period was another important issue. It was decided to accelerate action on
enhancing the pre-2020 actions like early ratification of the Kyoto Protocol
second commitment period, revisiting of targets and conditionalities associated
with it and provision of finance, technology and capacity building support by
developed countries to developing countries in consonance with Warsaw
decisions. The Parties also agreed to
organise further Technical Expert Meetings to examine options for further
action in the period 2015-2020.
8. On
the issue of finance, it was decided that developed countries parties will
provide and mobilise enhanced financial support to developing country parties
for ambitious mitigation and adaptation action.
As hon’ble Members are aware, the Green Climate Fund has been set up and
over 10 billion US dollars have already been pledged to it. However, the goal of mobilising 100 billion
US dollars per year by 2020 is still a far cry.
It was also decided to urge contributors to confirm pledges in the form
of fully executed contribution agreements taking note of the fact that at least
50% of pledges made till November, 2014 should be reflected as fully executed
contribution agreements by 30th April, 2015.
9. The
political consensus across the country on the issue of climate change has
strengthened our hands and we were able to project successfully the various
initiatives taken by the Government including the ambitious target of
generating 100,000 MW of solar energy, doubling of cess on coal for clean
technologies, rapid afforestation through the Green India Mission and devolution
of CAMPA funds to the states, expansion in wind energy and other Energy
Efficiency measures. Many Countries
appreciated the aggressive efforts of India on climate change under the
leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi.
10. We
are working on the voluntary national goal of reducing energy intensity of GDP
by 20-25 per cent by 2020 as compared to the base year of 2005. The recent UNEP Emission Gap report (2014)
has recognised India as being one of the countries on track to achieve the
voluntary pledges. We are committed to
taking pro-active steps on enhancing energy efficiency and expansion of
renewable in the fight against climate change. At the same time adaptation
measures in agriculture, water resources and urban areas will remain our key
priority.
Mr. Chairman / Madam Speaker
The next year is likely to witness
a series of meetings to finalise the new 2015 agreement. We will continue to participate actively in
the negotiations and ensure that it is rooted in the Convention and its
principles and our national interests. I
have benefitted from the able guidance and advice of Hon’ble PM, eminent
cabinet colleagues and fellow Members of the House, and hope you will continue
to support us on these issues. We will
continue the dialogue between our Government and hon’ble MPs so that we share
and exchange views on this extremely important matter in the coming days.
Courtesy: pib.nic.in
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