Kuala Lumpur (Hilary Chiew) – At their first meeting since the Paris climate summit, Ministers and representatives from Brazil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC) reiterated the importance of raising pre-2020 actions in building trust amongst the Parties to pave the way for the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The ministers noted with concern the pending ratification by many Annex I Parties (developed countries) of the Doha Amendment which established the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (2013-2020), urging Annex I Parties to both ratify and revisit their pledges of Quantified Emission Limitation and Reduction Objectives to close the emission gap.They also emphasised the crucial need to raise pre-2020 ambition on other pillars of the United Framework Nations Convention on Climate Change – adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer and capacity building.
“Ministers identified means of implementation in the context of provision of finance, technology transfer and capacity building support as the most important enablers of action for developing countries. Ministers expressed their concern over the lack of adequate support in this respect and urged developed countries to honour their obligations under the Convention,” said the joint statement issued on 7 April at the conclusion of the 22nd BASIC Ministerial meeting on climate change in New Delhi, India.
The meeting was attended by H.E. Mr Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India, H.E. Mr Xie Zhenhua, Special Representative for Climate Change of China, H.E. Ambassador Mr Antonio Marcondes, Under secretary-general for the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil and Mr Maesela Kekana, Chief Director, International Climate Change Relations and Negotiations of South Africa.
In terms of finance, they also urged developed countries to scale up their level of financial support with a complete roadmap to achieve the goal of jointly providing USD$100 bilion per year by 2020. Reiterating the role of public finance, the Ministers called upon developed countries to fulfil their pledges to the Green Climate Fund.
“The Paris Agreement recognises the imperatives of sustainable patterns of consumption and production, with developed countries taking the lead, and the importance of climate justice, in strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change,” they said, noting that the efforts by BASIC countries and other developing countries in tackling climate change, both pre- and post-2020 represent far more ambitious efforts compared to their respective responsibilities and capabilities.
They further reiterated that Parties’ contributions, termed as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ are to be country-driven and comprehensive.
They stressed the differentiated obligations in mitigation actions of developed and developing countries, as well as for the provision of support, and emphasised that developed countries should continue to take the lead, recalling that the Paris Agreement specifically mentioned that the timeframe for peaking will be longer for developing countries, thus proper anchoring of differentiation in contributions of developed and developing countries is a sound basis for ambitious actions.
Financial support to developing countries for effective implementation of their mitigation and adaptation actions through accelerating the work on the new Technology Framework and the Technology Mechanism including its assessment for a meaningful and tangible dissemination, transfer and deployment of technology from developed to developing countries is needed, said the ministers, emphasising the role of innovation and international cooperation in enhancing global actions.
Welcoming the setting up of the Paris Committee, a new institutional mechanism for enhancing capacity building activities in developing countries, the ministers urged developed countries to provide financial support for capacity building in developing countries.
On transparency, the ministers emphasised the importance of building on the existing transparency framework under the Convention, for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and reiterated the importance of providing support and flexibility to developing countries, including through the Capacity building Initiative for Transparency, in fulfilling their obligations under the proposed enhanced transparency framework.
“Transparency of support is a fundamental aspect of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the consideration of this issue should not be outsourced to other entities,” underlined the ministers, adding that they had also reflected on the need to focus on the qualitative aspects of climate finance on transparency of support.
Noting that the next session of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI), Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement will be deliberating on a number of issues related to the Paris Agreement, they hoped that issues under these bodies will receive balanced treatment and pledged their support to the incoming Conference of the Parties Presidency (Morocco) to ensure a successful COP22.
The ministers also expressed concern that the draft proposal on Global Market Based Measures (GMBM) under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) may impose inappropriate economic burden on developing countries where the international aviation market is still maturing. They urged the ICAO to develop climate change measures in a manner that is consistent with the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and to align the GMBM with the relevant provisions of the Paris Agreement.
The BASIC countries, said the ministers, look forward to signing the Paris Agreement on 22 April during the high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and expressed their will to initiate necessary domestic processes for ratification, acceptance or approval as soon as possible with a view to facilitate the timely entry into force of the Agreement, and urged other countries to do so as well.
The next BASIC ministerial meeting will be held in South Africa. – Third World Network
