Climate Change

High-level segment: the freaths of bresh air

Durban, December 7: Tuesday wasn’t a heavy day at the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre for the ‘non-governmental’, the way my presence at CoP 17 is measured, reported and verified. For country negotiators, though, it was a heavy-duty day: throughout the day, informal groups of delegates were locked in consultations.

India's environment minister says "equity is central to any debate on climate change"

Makes her first public address in Durban at a side event organised by CSE in association with the ministry

India's environment minister says "equity is central to any debate on climate change"

Makes her first public address in Durban at a side event organised by CSE in association with the ministry

What’s critical at Durban: removing the firewall between developing and developed countries

Durban, December 6: Remove the firewall at all costs: this sums up what the rich countries are doing in the climate negotiations at Durban to remove the differentiation between past polluters – responsible for climate change impacts currently occurring – and the future polluters, who need ecological space to grow. 

This is the core of the politics at the Durban conference on climate change. The rich countries are doing all they can, in different ways, to remove this distinction, for until the distinction remains, they will have to take action first to reduce and create carbon space for the poorer countries to increase their emissions.

Equity and per capita entitlement has to be the basis for fair climate deal says UK Climate minister

Durban, December 6: Speaking at the side of a press briefing organised by UNEP, Chris Huhne, UK Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change said that equity and per capita entitlement has to be ultimately the basis for a fair climate treaty.

Jayanthi Natarajan's statement in Durban on the issue of a new legally binding treaty

"I have come to Durban with an open mind. But I would like to know whether it would be binding only for mitigation and whether it will be the same for Annex-1 and non-Annex1 countries.

The Verbal Battle of Durban

Durban, December 6: The verbal battle of Durban was fought in a plenary at the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre.

It was fought on December 5, 2011, 10:00 am to 11:30 am.

Here is a no-holds barred version of the battle.

We apologise for this rather lengthy posting.

It was, after all, a verbal battle.

If you only want to know how India weighed in, rhetorical mace and all, scroll to the last bit.

Thanks for your patience. Here goes:

Press conference by Chinese delegation

Durban, December 5: 
Q from The Independent: Any circumstances in which China will go for a legally binding global deal to cut emissions?

So far, multilateral talks have been going on for 20 years. Many countries have spent great efforts. The UNFCCC and KP are legally binding documents, all parties are working hard to implement consensus in the Copenhagen Accord. We need a review of all these efforts. We need to base future decisions on current actions and what has been achieved so far. We will consider 2020 only after that.

“We don’t want an acclamation text”: developing countries are now angry

Durban, December 5: At the AWG-LCA plenary meeting held today, the divide between developed and developing countries turned to a chasm. The purpose of the meeting, called by the Chair of the AWG-LCA, was to solicit the reactions of countries to the 130-page amalgamated text circulated on Saturday. The amalgamated text now forms the basis of negotiations in this negotiating track.

Words are becoming phrases: Can climate change discourse be ever untangled?

We are midway through the Durban conference and the search for a ‘transparent’, ‘comprehensive’, ‘balanced’, ‘credible’, ‘flexible’,  ‘accommodating’, ‘fair’,  ‘ambitious’ and ‘binding’ outcome is on.