India on December 10 strongly asserted that the goal of capping global warming to within 1.5 degree Celsius from pre-industrial times will require developed countries to “massively” reduce their emissions and “scale up” the financial support to developing countries.
“On long term temperature goal, we are deeply sensitive to the demands for higher climate ambition. I understand fully the demand for mentioning 1.5 degrees, as we also have over 1,300 islands in India,” said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
“However, a 1.5 degree goal would require developed countries to massively reduce their emissions and massively ’scale up’ their financial support to developing countries. This is not happening,” Javadekar said during a negotiating session.
The goal of capping global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius finds a mention in the draft negotiating text which was unveiled on December 9.
BASIC countries, which also includes India, have kept their options open for recognising the demand and had said that they were discussing the issue while “hoping” to reach an understanding soon.
“During the joint statement after our Beijing meeting, we emphasised the importance of holding the increase average global temperature rise to below 2 degree Celsius. But we would like to highlight we are mindful about the concerns (about 1.5 degree target), said Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s Environment Minister.
“This is an issue for concern. We are discussing this. This is also a concern for Brazil and BASIC countries. I can say clearly that we are discussing the matter and I can assure that we will come with a joint position during the conference. We are working hard for this agreement. We hope come to an understanding on this,” Teixeira said during the joint press briefing of BASIC countries where Javadekar was present.
In 2009, countries agreed to work towards ensuring that global temperatures do not rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century.
There has been a consistent demand from the small island states, Least Developing Countries (LDC) and vulnerable countries for a downward revision to 1.5 degrees Celsius.