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This story is from December 12, 2019

BASIC nations play hardball, EU comes up with new ‘Green Deal’

It is learnt that the BASIC joint statement, saying "the progress on the pre-2020 agenda will be the benchmark of success for this COP", sounded an alarm bell in the EU camp which has been resisting linking of Kyoto Protocol pledges (pre-2020) with the progress on Paris Agreement (post-2020) actions.
BASIC nations play hardball, EU comes up with new ‘Green Deal’
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen unveils broad orientations of 'Green New Deal' plan to fight climate change during a press conference on December 11, 2019. (AFP)
MADRID: With the BASIC nations - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - virtually threatening rich countries of derailment of outcome of the current UN climate conference (COP25) due to the latter's failure to deliver on past promises, the European Union (EU) on Wednesday suddenly announced its 'Green Deal' with an objective to achieve 'net-zero' emission by 2050 - a move seen by participants as an attempt to put the emerging economies back on track for higher ambition goal by next year.

It is learnt that the BASIC joint statement, saying "the progress on the pre-2020 agenda will be the benchmark of success for this COP", sounded an alarm bell in the EU camp which has been resisting linking of Kyoto Protocol pledges (pre-2020) with the progress on Paris Agreement (post-2020) actions.
Expressing grave concern on the "current imbalance in the negotiations" due to differences between developed and developing nations, the BASIC countries said, "Commitments made by developed countries in the pre-2020 period must be honoured, because the completion of the pre-2020 agenda is of critical importance in building the basis for mutual trust and ambition in the post-2020 period."
Noting that "there has been a lack of progress on the pre-2020 agenda, adaptation and issues related to means of implementation support, in the form of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building support", the BASIC nations said, "This imbalance needs to be immediately rectified, in the interests of a successful conference outcome and achieving the global goals in the Paris Agreement."
The EU (28 nations), on its part, rushed through its 'Green Deal' proposing a European 'Climate Law' enshrining the 2050 climate neutrality objective by March 2020 and presenting a plan by mid next year to increase the EU's climate (emission reduction) target for 2030 to at least 50% and towards 55% from its 1990 levels.
All these back-to-back development happened on the day when two key reports on business entities caught attention of participants here at COP25 for galvanising countries into action to deal with climate crisis. The COP venue also witnessed a massive protests by activists, demanding higher ambition (emission cut targets) from countries.

The first report - appeared in journal Environmental Research Letters - reflected the negative aspect of private/public entities' roles in climate crisis showing how 88 companies from across the globe, including three - ONGC, Coal India Limited and Singareni Collieries Company Limited - from India, are responsible for most of the acidification of the world's oceans threatening marine life and disrupting food chains while second one - released by the UN Global Compact - pointed out how positively 177 companies, including six from India, aligned themselves with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels by reaching 'net-zero' emissions by 2050.
The Indian companies in the 'net-zero' emission list of 177 includes Mahindra Group, Wipro, Dalmia Cement, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Reliance Jio Infocomm. "The 177 companies collectively represent over 5.8 million employees, spanning 36 sectors and with headquarters in 36 countries. The companies have a combined market capitalization of over US$2.8 trillion, and represent annual direct emissions equivalent to the annual total CO2 emissions of France, " said the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), special initiative of the UN secretary-general, in a statement.
"I am encouraged that 177 major companies have committed to set scientific, verifiable emission reduction targets aligned with a 1.5 degree Celsius future through the 'Business Ambition for 1.5°C' campaign. By stepping up and setting science-based targets, these companies are pioneering new ways of doing business and driving systemic change throughout the global economy," said the UN Secretary-General António Guterres at an event here at COP25 venue.
Most of the countries are, however, not keen on announcing such ambition by next year. Asked about unwillingness of countries to do it, Sunita Narain, environmentalist and director general of the New Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, "It's a sign of how distrustful and divisive are the climate negotiations. All countries realise the urgency and need for urgent action but given the state of distrust and the fact that developed countries have reneged on all their commitments this is what is happening."
The European climate experts, on the other hand, appeared quite enthused of what the EU proposed on Wednesday. “The European Green Deal is a once-in-a-generation transformational opportunity to ensure the EU embarks upon a socially inclusive ecological transition to a net-zero economy, one that delivers tangible benefits to its citizens. This is our chance for a new social contract and building a fairer and more sustainable economy and society," said Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and one of the French diplomats who drafted the Paris Agreement in 2015.
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About the Author
Vishwa Mohan

Vishwa Mohan is Senior Editor at The Times of India. He writes on environment, climate change, agriculture, water resources and clean energy, tracking policy issues and climate diplomacy. He has been covering Parliament since 2003 to see how politics shaped up domestic policy and India’s position at global platform. Before switching over to explore sustainable development issues, Vishwa had covered internal security and investigative agencies for more than a decade.

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