CB Bureau There were several hundred negotiators, each with dozens
of conditions and thousands of opinions, but all agreed to one point: that the
world is getting warmer, the environment’s resilience is depleting, and
‘something’ needs to be done on an urgent basis. The major point of conflict
was”and might continue to be”whether that ‘something’ should be legally
binding, or each nation should continue to file reports of their ‘voluntary’
initiatives towards global warming.
The conflict reached a resolution on 11 December 2011,
with a majority of the countries participating in United Nations climate change
talks in Durban, South Africa, agreeing to sign a package of measures that
would eventually ‘legally’ bind the world’s polluters to curb emissions. After
more than two weeks of conversations (a day-and-a-half behind schedule because
of intense negotiations), more than 150 countries agreed to four main elements:
1) a second commitment period under Kyoto Protocol, 2) design of a Green
Climate Fund, 3) mandate to get ‘all’ countries in 2015 to sign a deal that will
force them to cut emissions no later than 2020, and 4) chalk out an immediate
action plan for 2012.
Kyoto Protocol
Although the Copenhagen talks in 2009 drastically failed to
come up with a new, internationally binding deal, the Durban deal extends
Kyoto, whose first phase of emissions cuts run from 2008 to the end of 2012.
The second commitment period will run from 1 January 2013 until the end of
2017.
A legal agreement
By 2015, a new legally binding treaty will be in place
and it will most likely come into force by 2020. The talks on this will begin
soon. The process will be called the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action
(DPEA). The exact nature of DPEA will be clear post-negotiations only.
However, the aim of this is very clear. The process will
work towards developing a new legal instrument that will ensure reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions. The negotiators will identify options for closing the
‘ambition gap’ between countries’ current emissions reduction pledges for 2020
and the goal of keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius.
The Durban negotiations could not manage to extend the
emissions cut pledges made in both Copenhagen in 2009 and 2010 in Cancun.
Carbon trading
Although negotiators agreed to have a successor treaty to
Kyoto Protocol, talks to create rules for the same will begin only next year. The
United Nations (UN) is now working on developing a framework for new mechanisms
and will make recommendations at a summit in Qatar at the end of 2012.
It has been decided that the new mechanism will operate
under the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties and will keep in mind the different
circumstances of developed and developing countries. The new rules will ensure
environmental integrity of new markets, seek to avoid double counting of carbon
credits, and certify that a net decrease in CO2 emissions is achieved.
However, as negotiators could not reach a decision on
whether to allow emission reduction projects to earn carbon credits under Kyoto
Protocol beyond 2012, it has become a matter of grave concern for nations with
vast Kyoto emissions inventories.
Green Climate Fund
Negotiators agreed that poor nations are most in need of
finance to help pay for adapting to global warming and introducing low-emission
energy and industrial processes.
The Durban talks made headway on the Green Climate Fund
to channel up to $100 billion a year by 2020 to poorer nations, but achieved
little on establishing where the money will come from to fill it. A proposal to
earn cash from charging international shipping for the carbon emissions it
generates faced opposition and it did not survive in the final text. Hence, while
the fund will be created, the channels of finance are yet to be decided.