Port of Spain: Ahead of the Copenhagen Summit
on climate change, India today said the meeting should make
all efforts to come out with a "legally binding substantive"
outcome on tackling the pressing global challenge and
disapproved of any attempt to give up and defer a decision as
is being mulled by some developed countries.
Prime Minister`s Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam
Saran said here that even if no consensus is reached at
Copenhagen next month, efforts should continue with an aim of
concluding within time-bound manner the negotiations as
mandated by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The issue of climate change is going to dominate the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here which is
being attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The 53-nation grouping of former British colonies, which
include developed, developing and under-developed countries,
is expected to come out with a communique pressing for early
decision on tackling the problem of climate change.
The CHOGM, also to be attended by UN Secretary General
Ban Ki Moon and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, can send out
a message for the Copenhagen meet, with an objective of
influencing the negotiators to reach a decision.
Talking about the urgency, Saran said countries like
Maldives even faced the threat of extinction if temperature
witnesses an increase. He expected the Least Developed
Countries of Commonwealth to make a stronger pitch for urgent
action.
"There is a greater sense of urgency. If the Copenhagen
meeting does not complete the full process, it should at least
start dealing with the process," Saran said.
There should be no attempt to pre-empt the December 7-18
Copenhagen meet as 192 countries are involved in it and
consensus would be required, he told reporters here.
He said even if it is not possible to achieve a legally
binding declaration at Copenhagen because of some 5-10
countries, some consensus should be arrived at.
Disfavouring any attempt to "give up" as is being done by
the US and some other developed nations citing shortage of
time, Saran said there is still time for the high-level
segment of Copenhagen meet beginning on December 16, and
efforts should be made to push the negotiations for an outcome
mandated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and Bali action plan. "The effort should be to
see how far we can go."
If the Copenhagen meet fails to arrive at legally binding
outcome it should pave the way for such results in the next
six months or so, he said, adding negotiations cannot be
open-ended.
On China`s decision to slow down carbon emissions by up
to 40 per cent by 2020, Saran explained that it did not amount
to cutting down emissions.
He said India need not follow what China has decided as
he noted that India already has ambitious action plans to
shift dependability from carbon-based fuels to renewable
energy sources, like nuclear, solar and wind energy.
PTI
