Indian environmentalists term Danish draft at Copenhagen summit unfair
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As a major row erupted at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen over the leaking of a "secret" Danish draft, environmentalists in India have also vented out their anger, saying that it's "unfair" to impose legally binding targets on developing countries only.
"The leaked document seems to be the work of rich nations who wanted to abandon the existing Kyoto Protocol and its main objective of only industrialized nations taking on emissions targets. The draft means that developing countries like India and China would have to take on targets as the world cut emissions in half by 2050. This is unfair," said environmentalist D.K. Roy.
Though India has not officially reacted at the climate summit over the leaked document, the Danish proposal has prompted a furious rebuke to rich nations from some other developing nations. They pointed out that there are flaws in the 2020 targets.
"Industrialized nations like Japan's proposed 25 percent cut is meaningless as it had set conditions that would never be met, and the U.S. 'remarkable and notable' emissions target proposed only a provisional one percent cut below 1990 levels. The 10 billion U.S. dollar annual green fund works out to just two U.S. dollars per person across the planet," said Roy.
Another climate expert, Sunil Gupta, added: "The leaked documents reveal divisions between industrialized and developing countries over the shape of a possible new deal. The BASIC draft sees emission reductions from developed countries coming under the Kyoto Protocol, whereas the Danish draft envisages all measures coming under a single new agreement."
The secret Danish text sets out a vision of greenhouse gas emissions peaking globally by 2020, then declining. It specifies a50 percent emissions cut globally (from 1990 levels) by 2050.
"But, the figures mean that per-capita emissions in developing countries will remain below those in the west, promoting inequality," Gupta said.
The "unfair" document should not even exist, he said.
Days ahead of the Copenhagen Summit when India followed China in setting carbon targets by announcing that it will reduce its emissions intensity by 20 to 25 percent over the next decade, some environmentalists claimed that the decision only indicated that the country was giving in to pressure from the U.S., saying it's bad for climate.
"What we have to understand is not what the minister said but what the minister did not say -- that India could well be doing this to help the U.S. because the Americans want to shift the goalpost, they want to move from legally binding cuts to voluntary targets," the Director of Center for Science and Environment, Sunita Narain, told the media.
In a speech to Parliament on India's stand at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, Environment Minister Ramesh Jairam had said that his country will not submit to legally binding emission cuts but would voluntarily reduce its carbon emission intensity by 20 to 25percent of 2005 levels by 2020.
"India's per capita emissions will always remain low with that of developed nations. India will not submit to legally binding emissions," Ramesh had said last week.
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