NEW DELHI: Businesses will be involved in drawing the agenda for the next UN-sponsored climate change negotiations as host country Poland is reaching out to industry for funds and technology to combat global warming.
Ministers and senior government representatives from the 190-odd countries will be meeting for a three-day preparatory meeting in Warsaw this week. The meeting, known as pre-COP (Conference of Parties) is held every year by the host of the year-end climate negotiations to work out the focus areas and goals for the summit. The meeting will be held in Warsaw from October 2 till October 4.
Breaking with practice, Poland has dedicated half of the three-day meeting to engage with business. During these sessions business representatives will discuss their expectations from the negotiations with ministers.
Funding to implement efforts to counter climate change continues to be an unresolved and tricky issue. Developing countries have for long maintained that climate finance needs to be provided by governments from their public coffers. However, the economic downturn that has plagued most of the industrialized countries has made this difficult. Industrialised countries have maintained that private sources like businesses must be tapped for climate funding. This week's meeting in Warsaw will explore the funding from businesses for taking up efforts to tackle climate change.
Experts say that while emission reduction offers business opportunities, the same is not the case with efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change that have already taken place. The Warsaw pre-summit meet will seek to assess the business opportunities that could be exist in adapting to climate change as well as in reducing emissions. The group will also discuss innovative options for the private sector to contribute to funding efforts to address climate change. Partnerships between public and private to finance climate change policies and actions will also be discussed.
The business-ministerial round of discussions will also focus on the policy and regulatory environment that is necessary to ensure a buy-in by businesses in the process of designing a global climate regime.
Though governments have long recognized the importance of participation by industry and business in promoting practices that counter climate change, businesses have not been a central part of the negotiations. Poland's efforts are being questioned by environmentalists and activists who feel that an active role for business would adversely affect the possibility of fashioning a deal that is fair, just and environmentally sound.
