NEW DELHI: The BASIC group of India, China, Brazil and South Africa have decided to recast the debate about `climate equity' and will hold a special session on it in the next meeting in Brazil in June.
The move by the BASIC nations comes as pressure from the developed countries to junk the principle of `historical responsibility' embedded in the existing UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has increased.
The convention at present recognises the fact that developed countries have been primarily responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. With a universally accepted cap on how much GHGs can be emitted in the atmosphere without raising global temperatures, the historical emissions restrict the current space available for developing economies to increase their emissions in order to achieve economic growth.
In this context, the embedded principle of `historical responsibility' puts pressure on the developed countries to either vacate the excess carbon budget they continue to occupy or to compensate the developing countries with technologies and funds to find a cleaner route to achieve higher economic levels.
While the debate is built on looking at accumulation of GHGs in the atmosphere from pre-industrial era when human-induced emissions rapidly increased, academics in the developed world have begun focusing on cutting short the timeline and instead look at emissions from 1990 onwards.
Indian negotiators point out that this would imply putting aside the issue of excess carbon space developed countries occupy and talk only of dividing the left over carbon space in the atmosphere. With only a small margin left in the atmosphere before the world breaches the tipping point or accepted GHG cap, they contend it would require India and other emerging economies to make larger cuts in their emissions than is beneficial to the economies.
India too is expected to hold a meeting on equity with environment minister Jairam Ramesh having asked a US-based economist to revisit the equity principle.
A series of formal and informal meetings are scheduled before that in the international arena where the talks are expected to also hit upon the issue though couched in negotiating jargon.
India will be participating in a 45-country meeting called by Mexico, the host of the 2010 meeting, of UN convention members and Germany at Bonn starting on Monday to find common ground on contentious issues like this before the formal UN talks are held in June in Bonn and in November in Cancun.
