COP24 meet readies draft norms to roll out Paris climate pact
Small Island States and Least Developed Countries raise concerns, but talks on to find common ground on key issues
NEWDELHI:A draft text of the Paris rulebook — guidelines on how the historic 2015 Paris agreement will be operationalised — is ready, marking a key milestone in the implementation of the accord. Michal Kurtyka, president of the COP 24 climate conference being held in Katowice, Poland, on Thursday said that the text in its current form will be released for political leaders to discuss, and that facilitation on certain matters may be possible even after the draft is published.
Differences on key issues persisted even on Thursday, the day before COP 24 closes. The Alliance of Small Island States and the Least Developed Countries representing about 920 million people sent a letter to Kurtyka raising several concerns about the conference’s seeming lack of ambition and a failure to recognise climate science.
At a stocktaking plenary held on Thursday, country representatives responsible for facilitation of discussions on various aspects of the rulebook such as climate finance, transparency in reporting, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change held talks in an effort to move ahead. On finance, there is still a “package of issues” which need to be resolved but they have been sent to the COP president for his views, said ministers from Germany and Egypt who were responsible for the discussions on finance.
On transparency in reporting of actions being taken by countries, the coordinators from South Africa and Spain said there were “lots of differences” and they were “trying very hard to find a middle ground.”
Coordinators also said the issue of “loss and damage” continues to be open because of differences among parties. Loss and damage refers to irreversible impact of climate change being faced by certain vulnerable parts of the world. It aims to find a mechanism to address these losses. But developed countries have remained hesitant about this clause.
Even on the issue of “equity”-a principle that means developed countries take the lead in curbing emissions while developing and least developed countries take action in accordance to their capacities -- major differences persisted. Coordinators said “more options have to be rediscussed and efforts made to resolve diverging views.” Another issue that remains unresolved is on how the rulebook will recognise the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC’s) 1.5 degree report.
“How should we recognise the 1.5 degree special report? There are very strong opinions, but there is a strong will to find language to recognise climate science. We have just started to draft language,” said a coordinator during the stocktaking at 4 pm in Katowice. The impact and cost of global temperatures rising by 1.5 degree will be far greater than previously estimated, IPCC warned in an October report.
“I can hear constructive engagement. We can achieve some success in Katowice. Climate change will not wait for us so please make this happen. I will prepare a proposal with language that will be accepted by all. You can continue facilitating on issues even after the text is published,” said Kurtyka.
“We are deeply concerned over the direction in which the outcomes of COP 24 are heading. The rulebook should fully incorporate ‘Loss and Damage’ into the relevant provisions of the Paris Agreement Rulebook, including in the transparency framework, finance and the global stocktake,” AOSIS and least developed countries said in their letter. India on behalf of BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) Wednesday said “climate finance” and “equity” are most important aspects the nations want incorporated in Paris rulebook. BASIC nations said current climate finance available for developing and least developed nations is extremely inadequate.
BASIC NATIONS SAID THE CURRENT CLIMATE FINANCE AVAILABLE FOR DEVELOPING AND LEAST DEVELOPED NATIONS IS EXTREMELY INADEQUATE