The following is the text of the remarks made by Union Environment Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar at ‘Paris Committee’ meeting at COP-21 in Paris on December 9, 2015:
“Mr. President, Thank you for convening this meeting. We deeply appreciate your leadership and efforts. We associate ourselves with the statements made on behalf of G-77.
Mr. President, the latest draft is a starting point for our final push.
But at this stage there are many points of departure. Much work is needed to reach a point of convergence.
The agreement that we are crafting must carefully balance climate ambition and the principle of differentiation. Both are equally important. We cannot have one without the other.
It needs to be reaffirmed upfront in the agreement that it is under the Convention and in accordance with its principles.
Its objective is to enhance the implementation of the Convention across all its pillars. This is crucial.
The principles of the Convention must be stated correctly without any unnecessary additions.
The agreement must also meaningfully operationalize differentiation across all its elements. This is not clear in the current draft.
Mr. President, Let me be clear. We are not suggesting that we remain stuck to the past. Surely, we must look forward and move steadily. But a durable agreement cannot be crafted by diluting historical responsibilities or by putting the polluters and the victims at the same level.
I must stress that the concept of INDCs is a great innovation and has proved a game-changer. It has enabled the participation of over 186 countries. Yet, INDCs are not even mentioned in the draft.
On long term temperature goal, we are deeply sensitive to the demands for higher climate ambition.
I understand fully the demand for mentioning 1.5 degrees, as we also have over 1300 islands in India.
However, a 1.5 degree goal would require developed countries to massively reduce their emissions and massively ‘scale up’ their financial support to developing countries. This is not happening.
Mr. President, India is in favor of a robust transparency mechanism. This should apply not just to mitigation but all other elements, in particular finance. The transparency mechanism should cover all countries, in a differentiated manner. Implementing the current system – which has not yet been made operational – is an essential component to build capacity and experience in developing countries. A transition period is therefore needed before changes could be made.
On finance, it is deeply disappointing that on the one hand developed countries are not fulfilling their obligations and on the other hand, they are trying to shift their responsibilities to developing countries themselves. There is no indication of scaling up of finance nor a clear roadmap.
Mr. President, I have highlighted just some of the key points from our perspective.
We also find that several of our other concerns, such as unilateral measures, sustainable lifestyles and climate justice do not find a mention in the draft.
We will examine the draft carefully and engage with all our partners to reach an agreement.
Thank you.”
