India among 40 countries to attend Swiss climate change meet

D Ravi Kanth

Geneva, Sep 1 (PTI) Switzerland will host an informal
summit of 40 countries, including India, on global warming on
Friday to discuss modalities for a new Climate Fund that is
expected to unblock the stalled negotiations on the issue.

Since the Copenhagen Climate Change meeting in December
last year, the ongoing negotiations under the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) have made little progress
on a range of issues, including the emission-reduction targets
as well as financing for mitigation and adaptation.
The two-day meeting in Geneva which will be attended by
40 Environmental Ministers, including India's Jairam Ramesh,
is expected to test developing countries' resolve to resist
the mounting pressure for new forms of funding, especially
through private sources, as proposed by leading industrialised
countries, said officials from developing countries.
"We are confident that India will provide ideas to arrive
at the basis for climate-fund financing," Franz Perrez, a
senior Swiss foreign office official in charge of environment,
told PTI.
"India has excellent negotiators and we expect both the
minister (Jairam Ramesh) and his officials to interact with
other countries on the key issues on financing," he said.
The Swiss meeting is not expected to result in any
agreement or declaration on the financing for climate fund.
"It is not supposed to arrive at any agreement but it would
set the basis for further negotiations on what ought
to be the key elements of the new climate fund," the Swiss
official said.
Industrialised countries had agreed to provide USD 100
billion by 2020 at the Copenhagen meeting to address climate
change mitigation and adaptation in poor countries. Until now,
they have not spelt out how the fund will be raised and who
will oversee its administration and disbursals.
The global climate fund is one of the divisive issues in
the ongoing negotiations and is expected play a critical role
in deciding the fate of the 16th Conference of the Parties
(COP16) in Cancun, Mexico, later this year, said a developing
country official.

While there is general consensus among industrialised and
developing countries on the need to increase financing for
climate change mitigation and adaptation, the two sides remain
divided on the core elements such as the sources for funding
and its oversight.
Two new sources of funding to fulfil the overall
requirement of USD 100 billion for the climate fund are likely
to be presented at the Geneva meeting.
They include levying carbon taxes or duties on the most
polluting industries like coal-fired power plants and other
industrial enterprises that emit massive CO2 gases across the
world, and slapping taxes on airlines and shipping companies
that contribute to environmental degradation.
Developing countries, including some non-governmental
organisations like WWF, are sceptical about these new sources
of financing on the ground that they undermine the commitments
made by rich countries in Copenhagen.
"The new proposals from the industrialised countries
appear to be an attempt to shift responsibilities from public
sources to private funding and they would impose considerable
economic burden on developing countries," said an official
from a developing country.
The Brazilian ministry of environment said it accepts the
need to include private money but it cannot be the main source
for funding for the climate fund. Instead, Brazil insists that
there should be clear commitment from industrialised countries
about their total contribution for the global climate fund.
The three emerging countries - China, India and Brazil-
are also expected to be asked to contribute to the climate
fund given their impressive economic growth and development.
"We would be very happy if the three emerging countries
contribute to the climate fund," said Perrez, suggesting that
the final contributions should be decoupled from the
historical contributions to climate change. PTI DRK