Copenhagen Summit – UFCCC COP 15, 2009

This was the first Climate Agreement which endorsed the 2ºC warming limit as the benchmark for global progress on climate change. The Accord additionally included:

-          An agreement that all countries need to take action on climate change and the provision of immediate and longer term financial help to those countries most at risk of climate change.

-          List of what each country is doing to tackle climate change including economy-wide commitments to cut emissions by developed countries most at risk of climate change.

-          The introduction of real scrutiny and transparency to ensure emission targets are put into effect, with mandatory reporting every two years for developing countries.

-          Under Copenhagen Green Climate Fund , a provision of $30 billion of immediate short term funding form developed countries over the following three years to kick start emission reduction measures and help the poorest countries adapt to impacts of climate change , and

-          Commitment by developed countries to work to provide long term financing of $100 billion a year by 2020.

The Copenhagen Agreement could not formulate a legally binding ‘instrument, which was the intention of many developed countries. Developed countries still want a legally binding and so verifiable agreement so as to include emerging economies in global GHG reduction measures. The Copenhagen Summit set a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees. But many people

fighting climate change were disappointed because it failed to spell out specific targets that will enable the world to hold down temperatures. Developed countries wanted commitments on carbon emission reductions made by countries like India and China to be subject to international scrutiny.

But developing countries, led by BASIC group insisted that these pledges remain voluntary. Developing countries held that cutting carbon emissions will hamper their economic growth. So at present rich countries should take lead for reducing emissions.

Thus final accord safeguarded the rights of development of developing countries. Mitigation actions of the developing countries will be subject to domestic measurement, domestic reporting and domestic verification as per their internal procedures.

But in the Summit, India pledged to cut its emission intensity by 20-25% on the same 2005 baseline. But these commitments are voluntary and not legally binding. Emission intensity or carbon intensity is the measure of emissions relative to economic output produced. In simple words it means amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic growth.

Because of emission intensity reduction commitment by India; even as India’s GDP grows in the coming years, its emissions shall increase in absolute quantity but the growth rate of emissions will be moderated as reflected in declining carbon intensity of GDP.

In fact India’s emission intensity has declined by 17.6% between 1990 and 2005 while its energy intensity has been decreasing since 1980s and is already in the same range as that of the least energy intensive countries in the world. According to Government of India, it is estimated that India’s per capita emissions in the year 2031 will be lower than the per capita emission of GHG in the year 2005.

In percentage terms India at 5.3% is the world’s third largest contributor to G?HG emissions after China (19.5%), USA (19.2%) , Russia , Japan and Germany contribute 5.1%, 3.6% and 2.6% respectively to the total GHG emissions in the world.

Cancun Summit- COP-16

Cancun Summit is significant as it put pledges on emissions reduction by rich countries into formal documentation. Many rich countries made pledges or commitments in Copenhagen Summit to cut their GHG emissions so as to achieve global peaking of temperatures by 2020; but these commitments were not incorporated the official UN process. Cancun did that the Green Climate Fund and Long Term Financing were again given endorsement as also Technology Transfer and Adaptation Mechanisms.

Formal Backing was given for
UN’s Deforestation Scheme, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plus), under which rich countries pay poorer nations not to chop down forests and so lock away carbon emissions. But Again the details were not prescribed on schemes like when and exactly what form scheme will take , whether developing  countries will be able to use it to ‘ offset’ their emissions rather than make cuts at home.

Another important feature was that developing countries including India agreed, in principle to the idea of International Consultation and Analysis (ICA), a global system of monitoring domestic actions on emission reduction. But developing countries and India oppose the ICA saying it would allow developed nations to send inspectors or ask for records, to check compliance. The developed countries led by USA took stand that they would not negotiate other issues such as on technology and adaptation unless ICA mechanism is formally agreed.