The principle trouble in Paris is called differentiation

A victory on this issue would be the central focus for India as the talks enter the ministerial round in the second week of the Paris Climate Change summit.

The principle is enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), agreed to by all countries in 1992. It requires that polluters pay for the damage they cause. In this case, it asks countries with greater accumulated emissions of greenhouse gases over time be made to do much more and help others get onto a cleaner road to growth.

As the predominant greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, remains embedded in the atmosphere for centuries, countries responsible for higher stocking has what is known in climate talks jargon as a historical responsibility.

The convention has a list of countries, called Annex I to the convention, with historical responsibility. The other countries, including India, were called non-Annex I.

The US and most developed countries want no reference to the Annex I in the Paris pact. They say some poor countries have become emerging economies and all countries should be brought on a par. India and some developing countries believe doing away with the annexes will remove historical responsibility, while emissions stocked by the developed countries have not changed with time.

The developed nations, however, agree the Paris agreement would be decided under the UNFCCC. The convention would be like a constitution of a country, and the Paris agreement would implement its objectives like a law. One of that principles is that of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Developed countries often refer to the fact that current and future emissions are bound to increase from emerging economies such as India and that must be prevented under the Paris agreement.

Since the convention was signed, the stocks of emissions from developed countries have risen. Developing countries are getting on to that path. “If only the current and future flow of emissions is tackled and historical emissions forgotten, then the burden of fighting climate change for historical emissions too gets transferred to our shoulders,” explained a negotiator.

But the US has held it will not permit the reference to the Annex I and non-Annex countries in the Paris agreement. Some countries have suggested referring to the differentiation (and consequently the historical responsibility) by using terms such as developed and developing countries.

While in common parlance the words are used often while reporting on climate negotiations and the differentiation built into the convention’s architecture, the phrases actually have no clear agreed definition in UN forums.

Bringing these terminologies into the Paris agreement would require these to be defined by consensus of all 196 countries. It could become a chicken-and-egg situation, because again the US is firm it will not permit any reference to historical emissions. If the terms are not defined, then annexure-based differentiation could continue by default.

The idea of a carbon budget — with global responsibility being divided based on how much carbon stock each country should ideally be permitted to stream — also fails in the face of the US red lines.

Paris Climate Change Conference. The temperature-limit goal generates the total carbon stock that the planet can take. The parameters for carbon budget would have to be decided by consensus between 196 countries. Each country would want to define it on the basis of where its own carbon emissions, demographics and economies stand and how these are projected to grow. A consensus would remain elusive.

To break the logjam India, proposes that differentiation be kept alive by creating distinctly different nature of responsibilities in each of the elements of the Paris agreement, whether it is reducing emissions, providing climate finance or enabling clean technological devolution. This is often referred to as operationalisation of the principle of differentiation.

So far, it’s been strongly supported in this demand by many developing countries. Countries with tiny economies having clarity that their emissions would never be significant see no reason to argue for differentiation. This lot includes several least developed countries and small island countries.

The next one week will see India and others facing a challenge in this space. A question that has been asked often of India at the Paris summit is will it block the negotiations? One could turn it around and ask, would India be willing to stand with a few, or even no partner-countries, to defend its carbon and development rights.

The Indian delegation at Paris led by Javadekar would hope an answer to that question, regardless of how it is asked, is not needed by Friday when the French hope to seal the Paris agreement.

World's richest 10% produce 50% of CO2: Report

The richest 10 per cent of people produce half of Earth's climate-harming fossil-fuel emissions, while the poorest half contribute a mere 10 per cent, British charity Oxfam said in a study released today.

Oxfam published the numbers as negotiators from 195 countries met in Paris climate change to wrangle over a climate rescue pact.

Disputes over how to share responsibility for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions and aiding climate-vulnerable countries are among the thorniest and longest-running issues in the 25-year-old UN climate process.

"Rich, high emitters should be held accountable for their emissions, no matter where they live," Oxfam climate policy head Tim Gore said in a statement.

"But it's easy to forget that rapidly developing economies are also home to the majority of the world's very poorest people and while they have to do their fair share, it is rich countries that should still lead the way."

The report said that an average person among the richest one per cent emits 175 times more carbon than his or her counterpart among the bottom 10 percent.

Rich and developing nations remain deeply divided on the issue of "differentiation" -- how to share out responsibility for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, which derive mainly from burning coal, oil and gas.

Developing countries say the West has polluted for much longer and should shoulder a bigger obligation for cutting back.

They also demand assurances of finance to help them shift to less-polluting renewable energy, shore up defences against Paris climate change conference impacts such as sea level rise, droughts and superstorms, and to cover damage that cannot be avoided.

"We hope advanced nations will assume ambitious targets and pursue them sincerely. It's not just a question of historical responsibility -- they also have the most room to make the cuts and make the strongest impact," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Monday's opening of the summit by world leaders.

Yet many rich nations, led by the United States, reject the idea of a "bifurcated" approach with obligations placed on one group of countries, and not the other.

They point to the risk of carbon emissions -- as measured by volume, rather than per capita -- from emerging giants such as China and India.

Oxfam said its analysis "helps dispel the myth that citizens in rapidly developing countries are somehow most to blame for climate change".

India, 19 other nations pledge $20 billion to promote clean technologies

Twenty countries, including India, the US and China, will today launch an initiative to double their clean energy research and development budget over the next five years as part of global efforts to tackle climate change.
The total amount of money being committed by these 20 countries - under 'Mission Innovation' -- amount to $20 billion, about half of which would come from the US, White House officials said.
A formal announcement of the initiative is expected later in the day at a meeting attended by US President Barack Obama, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande along with other leaders from the private and public sector, a White House official told reporters before Obama left for Paris to attend the crucial paris climate change summit here.
These additional resources will dramatically expand the new technologies that will define a future global power mix that is clean, affordable and reliable, the White House said.
"This is an effort designed to accelerate clean energy innovation and address global climate change, provide affordable clean energy to consumers with a special focus on the developing world in creating commercial opportunities for creating clean energy in developing countries," top Obama adviser Brian Deese told reporters.
Other participating countries include France, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, the UAE and the UK.
These 20 countries accounts for over 80 per cent of global clean energy R&D.
"One thing that we know clearly is that the investment in basic research in clean energy technologies needs to be connected to private capital that's willing to deploy against the most promising of those technologies and help bring them to scale," Deese said.
Noting that individual countries will focus on clean energy efforts that suit their needs, like energy efficiency or reducing hydrofluorocarbons, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in the US' increase in funding, about 15 per cent per year starting in 2017, would rely on Congress.
"There's a lot of support for innovation," he said.
In addition to 'Mission Innovation', another initiative called 'Breakthrough Energy Coalition' will be launched simultaneously.
Spearheaded by Bill Gates, it is a global group of private investors that will take the risks that allow the early stage energy companies that emerge from the research programmes of 'Mission Innovation' countries to come out of the lab and into the marketplace.
"Paris climate change conference the renewable technologies we have today, like wind and solar, have made a lot of progress and could be one path to a zero-carbon energy future," Microsoft founder Bill Gates said in a statement.
"But given the scale of the challenge, we need to be exploring many different paths and that means we also need to invent new approaches. Private companies will ultimately develop these energy breakthroughs, but their work will rely on the kind of basic research that only governments can fund. Both have a role to play," Gates said.
He noted that the world's growing demand for energy is also a big problem, because most of that energy comes from hydrocarbons, which emit greenhouse gases and drive climate change.
"So we need to move to sources of energy that are affordable and reliable, and don't produce any carbon," he said.