As the five-day climate talks at Bonn concluded on May 3, countries showed little sign of having made any headway. Developed and developing countries continue to remain divided, as they have been for the past two decades. Even as countries proposed more workshops to discuss specific issues in subsequent climate talks, it is clear that the road ahead is full of challenges. Consider, for example, differentiation.
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Battle lines in work stream I
On the principles of the Convention: The essential disagreement is over what principles will apply in the 2015 deal. Does that mean the existing arrangement of Annexes remains? Will developed countries adhere to the principle of historic responsibility? What does equity mean? The following party positions bring out the differences in the open: Adaptation must be central to the new deal, everyone agrees. Differences arise when the issue of financing adaptation arises. If past experience is a precedent, there is very little to be optimistic about. As outlined in Article 4.7 of the Convention, developing countries need support for finance, technology and capacity. Without these, the developing countries are clear that their efforts to take any action will suffer. Who will take the lead in mitigation? Will developed countries, with their historical responsibility, take the lead? Or, will it fall on emerging economies on whom there is considerable pressure already? As it stands now, for the developed world, mitigation is about reduction of emissions. For developing countries, it is about preventing and avoiding emissions. |