‘Paris pact not enough to save the world’
PARIS: Civil society groups and green think-tanks from South Asia did
not appear too enthused with the Paris agreement which, they said, was
not ambitious enough to save the world from disastrous consequences of
climate change.
After going through the fine print of the global climate agreement, New Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said it was a compromise deal and in many ways it could be termed "lowest minimum denominator".
Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), a coalition of over 141 civil society groups from South Asia, on the other hand, called the agreement "durable and dynamic" but said it had fallen short of being fully fair and responsive to future needs.
CSE noted the developing countries had got "words" and promises of money while developed countries had finally got rid of their historical responsibility of causing climate change. The think-tank said rich nations had no legally binding targets on quantum of finance ($100 billion) or emissions cuts.
"The phrase 'historical responsibility' has been erased from the agreement and this weakens the obligations of developed countries to take actions due to their past emissions. Without historical responsibility, equity will now be interpreted only through the words 'respective capabilities and national circumstances', further removing differentiation between the climate actions of developed and developing countries," Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of CSE, said.
"To erase any notion of historical responsibility, the developed countries have gone to the extent of mentioning in the text that the loss and damage due to climate change does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation," he added.
CSE also feared that the deal would put the world on a path of 3 degrees Celsius and above of global warming as not much enhancement in ambition would happen for the next 10 years. It said the developed countries had not committed any significant finance or emission cuts before 2020.
"On the whole, the draft Paris agreement continues to be weak and unambitious, as it does not include any meaningful targets for developed countries to reduce their emissions. It notes that climate injustice is a concern of some and it maintains that the agreement will be under the UN convention. But as it does not operationalise equity and the term carbon budget didn't even find mention in the text, this will end up furthering climate apartheid," Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, said.
Sanjay Vashist, director of CANSA, said, "The onus is now on developed countries to fulfill their promises and scale up climate finance flows to support mitigation and adaptation efforts, especially for most vulnerable countries."
After going through the fine print of the global climate agreement, New Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said it was a compromise deal and in many ways it could be termed "lowest minimum denominator".
Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA), a coalition of over 141 civil society groups from South Asia, on the other hand, called the agreement "durable and dynamic" but said it had fallen short of being fully fair and responsive to future needs.
CSE noted the developing countries had got "words" and promises of money while developed countries had finally got rid of their historical responsibility of causing climate change. The think-tank said rich nations had no legally binding targets on quantum of finance ($100 billion) or emissions cuts.
"The phrase 'historical responsibility' has been erased from the agreement and this weakens the obligations of developed countries to take actions due to their past emissions. Without historical responsibility, equity will now be interpreted only through the words 'respective capabilities and national circumstances', further removing differentiation between the climate actions of developed and developing countries," Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of CSE, said.
"To erase any notion of historical responsibility, the developed countries have gone to the extent of mentioning in the text that the loss and damage due to climate change does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation," he added.
CSE also feared that the deal would put the world on a path of 3 degrees Celsius and above of global warming as not much enhancement in ambition would happen for the next 10 years. It said the developed countries had not committed any significant finance or emission cuts before 2020.
"On the whole, the draft Paris agreement continues to be weak and unambitious, as it does not include any meaningful targets for developed countries to reduce their emissions. It notes that climate injustice is a concern of some and it maintains that the agreement will be under the UN convention. But as it does not operationalise equity and the term carbon budget didn't even find mention in the text, this will end up furthering climate apartheid," Sunita Narain, director general of CSE, said.
Sanjay Vashist, director of CANSA, said, "The onus is now on developed countries to fulfill their promises and scale up climate finance flows to support mitigation and adaptation efforts, especially for most vulnerable countries."
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