COP24 talks: 195 countries evolve, adopt milestone Paris Rulebook
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PARIS RULEBOOK
NEW DELHI: As many as 195 countries evolved and adopted a set of guidelines – the Paris Rulebook — for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement to strengthen the global response to climate change late on Saturday evening in Poland’s Katowice.
The rulebook was adopted after two weeks of negotiations to resolve major differences between developed, developing and a coalition of least developed countries at the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24).
In Katowice, the environment ministry’s joint secretary, Ravi Shankar Prasad, made a statement on India’s behalf on Saturday expressing reservations regarding certain parts of the rulebook. He cited the lack of equity in the global stocktake process, a five-yearly review of the implementation of the Paris Agreement .
Equity would mean that the developed countries take the lead while developing and least developed countries also take action to combat climate change in accordance with their capacities.
Later, the ministry issued a statement on Sunday saying India welcomed the rulebook as Welcomes the timely completion of the IPCC special report on global warming of 1.5 degree C but doesn’t state that the findings of the report are welcome or doesn’t elaborate on the fact that countries have to meet the requirements.
Loss and Damage will be part of the global stocktake or a five yearly review of the implementation of the Paris Agreement but doesn’t state how finance will flow from developed countries to deal with losses in vulnerable countries
its concerns have been addressed in the final version. “India considers the outcome of COP 24 a positive one which addresses Talks about setting a new collective finance goal post by 2020, higher than the current goal of 100 billion USD per year. The text urges developed nation parties to channel more grant-based resources for adaptation to climate change as against loans. But developed nations are free to use whatever financial instruments they want to deliver climate finance. Carbon market mechanism to trade in emissions became a major issue of contention, it will be fleshed out next year.
concerns of all parties and sets us on the path towards successful implementation of the Paris Agreement.” Civil society groups and the least developed countries have expressed their concerns about how effective the rulebook or the Katowice Climate Package.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhibased advocacy organisation, said the countries are pretty much on their own to mitigate, adapt and pay for climate impacts.
“The UNFCCC [UN Framework Convention on Climate Change] is now a platform to collect and synthesise information and provide a forum to discuss and debate. It does not have the tools to drive global collective action to combat climate change. In such a situation, one needs to seriously question the raison d’être of the UNFCCC,” said CSE deputy director general Chandra Bhushan.
According to the CSE, the developed countries have the choice to include all kinds of financial instruments as climate finance including loans. It said the reporting of financial grants by developed countries and review of whether it is adequate has also been weakened.
In the global stocktake section to measure global progress and identify how countries are adapting to or mitigating climate change, there is now no provision on addressing these issues, the CSE added.