BackOnus of Copenhagen success put firmly on emerging nations
Onus of Copenhagen success put firmly on emerging nations
PremiumMatter of concern: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flanked by environment minister Jairam Ramesh (to his right) and Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed in New Delhi on Thursday. Subhav Shukla / PTI
New Delhi: The United Nations body on climate change said on Thursday that while the success of talks in Copenhagen this December depends on the actions of industrialized nations, emerging economies will also need to make efforts to limit the growth of their emissions.
“The ball is in the court of developed nations on issues of what ambitious emission reduction commitments they are ready to take and how much financing they are ready to provide to developing nations," said Yvo De Boer, executive secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Boer made the statements at the ongoing high-level conference on technology development and transfer in Delhi.
“We are committed to further evolving and pursuing our sustainable growth strategy for reasons of our own vital national interests," he said, referring to the objectives in the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. “India will adopt purposive domestic actions to enhance its climate change management. The focus of our efforts will be targeted towards achieving time-bound outcomes related to the energy efficiency of our economy, the share of renewable energy in our fuel mix and several other sector-specific initiatives."
Environment ministers and officials on climate change from major countries are attending the high-level conference, which is being held to facilitate dialogue between nations on technology issues.
Intellectual property rights (IPR) remained the most contentious issue at the meeting. Boer said that IPR issues in clean technology are not as simple as the case of HIV drugs, as the former involves tens of thousands of technologies belonging to hundreds of firms.
“On the one hand, we have the recognition that investment of private companies in new technologies needs to be respected or it will kill innovation," Boer said. “On the other hand, we need to look at options of buying down the IPRs to critical sectors such as solar and wind to make them available more quickly."
On Tuesday, India announced that it will provide $1 million (Rs4.67 crore) to Maldives for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) coastal zone management centre. The Maldivian president is also the guest of honour at the conference. As one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, Maldives, along with other small island developing states, has asked for radical emission reduction cuts from developed nations and action from major economies such as India as well at UNFCCC.
“I believe it is in India’s national interest to lead the world again, in the green power revolution," Mohamed Nasheed, the Maldivian president, said in his address at the conference. “As India takes its rightful place as one of the world’s great powers, it is my firm belief that you can lead other nations in renewable energy."
Close on the heels of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), India and Norway also signed an MoU on cooperation on climate change and implementation of the clean development mechanism projects of the Kyoto Protocol on Thursday.
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