No consensus yet on a fair climate deal

Consensus eluded negotiators on Wednesday to stitch an equitable and just accord on climate change in the last lap before the summit on Friday with no headway being made to iron out sticking points on carbon emission cuts, mitigation targets and long-term financing.

"The BASIC group - comprising India, China, South Africa and Brazil - is united and we would like to reiterate that we want an equitable and fair agreement to emerge out of Copenhagen. But if for some reasons there are disappointments, BASIC will not be to blame," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

His statement came as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Copenhagen on Thursday for the final leg of the 12-day climate change summit, which is also expected to be attended by US President Barack Obama.

"We will resist in united manner any manipulation to weaken in any way the troika of the UNFCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Action Plan," Ramesh said.

In Washington, Obama held a conference call with leaders of Britain, France and Germany, besides calling Bangladeshi and Ethiopian Prime Ministers in his last ditch effort to arrive at a successful deal on climate change.

"The President believes that we can get an operational agreement that makes sense in Copenhagen over the next few days," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. 

Efforts to reach a climate change deal in Copenhagen have receded further with a new draft text of a potential treaty reflecting the deep divisions between developed and developing countries and a consensus on all major issues remaining elusive.

Most of the bitterly debated issues like goal for emission cut, mitigation targets for developed countries, nationally mitigation actions for developing countries and rules for monitoring these actions, peaking of emissions, consideration for atmospheric space and long-term goal for finances remain unresolved, as per the new draft.

Delegates from 192 countries have been here for more than a week attempting to hammer out a climate change texts before the heads of state and government of over 100 countries arrive later this week.

Delegates warned if a treaty was not negotiated, a draft treaty may be dropped at the last moment to ensure that the talks do not fail an option India is completely against.

India already has several concerns over the original draft treaty that was released by the Chair of the Working Group of Long Term Cooperative Action (LCA), which is one of the tracks of negotiations along with the Working Group on Kyoto Protocol.

India will not accept three provisions which are in the first draft that was tabled by the United Nations Working group, Ramesh has said but was willing to use the draft as a starting point for further negotiations.

Ramesh told journalists that most of the troubling provisions were the product of division in the Alliance of Small Inland States (AOSIS) and India was engaging with them to resolve their differences. A member of the Indian delegation said that Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) has been included in the section that deals with mitigation actions by developing countries as well as for funding for REDD plus.

Besides, several activities in REDD plus that India was keen on -- reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests, enhancement of forest carbon stocks -- have been included in the draft. Meanwhile, the European Union has categorically stated that it prefers a single agreement that "goes beyond Kyoto".

"We prefer a single agreement," Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for Environment, told journalists.
"We really support the architecture of Kyoto... we want to use all the good things of it but it's not enough. We're more ambitious than Kyoto," he said. Former US Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore has called on developed and developing countries to reach "compromises" on their key differences for the sake of future generations.

He called for transparency in the contentious issue of financial commitments by developed countries and monitoring of domestic actions that developing nations are resisting.