‘Climate plans of developing countries far more ambitious’

Sharing her impressions of the climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, Nozipho Mxakato-Diseko, the chairperson of the G-77 and China said that that issues central to the developing countries were not being sufficiently addressed. G-77 and China is the largest negotiating group of Parties in climate negotiations, with its 134 members constituting over 80 per cent of the world’s population.

The ambassador, while speaking at the press conference, added that for this G-77 and China, climate change was not about economic competitiveness or profit making ventures; rather “it is a more fundamental issue of human development and environmental protection.” Finance, on which there is legal obligation of the developed countries to help the developing countries move to low-carbon economies, was another concern for her. Other elements, namely technology transfer and development and capacity building – in addition to finance – has to be central to the Paris Agreement, she remarked.

The ambassador further expressed her resentment over the issue being completely sidelined and developed countries offering a clarification that “the world has changed since 1992”. Registering her sharp protest, she countered the argument saying that if so is the case, why then are the developing countries still developing with little or no voice in negotiations processes.

The basis of the negotiations, she says, must be United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that remains a legally binding instrument. All Parties must work towards “enhancing the implementation of the provisions of the Convention” and not to re-write the Convention itself, she urged.

On the basis of informed studies conducted by various civil society groups, the ambassador remarked that the current efforts towards addressing the climate change, in the form of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) or simply the climate action plans, are not on track to meet the 2 °C goal, as mandated by science. Moreover, the plans submitted by developing countries are much more ambitious than the far less ambitious plans which have come from the developed countries; thus showing great disparity. She further advocated that the current climate negotiations being conducted under the targeted spin-off groups must be open for observers.

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