BASIC countries ask rich to honour commitments

PTI Baku: BASIC countries, including India, have asked developed countries to honour their commitments to provide climate finance rather than “diluting obligations” and rejected attempts by the rich nations to shift their financial responsibilities during negotiations at the ongoing COP29 here. As the annual climate change summit entered the fourth day on Thursday, Brazil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC) also reiterated the need for full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement 2015, a legally binding international treaty.

The Paris Agreement aims at substantially reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to hold global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (with a baseline 1850-1900). India, Egypt, and the Independent Alliance of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC) also called for clear pathways to convert financial pledges into binding contribution agreements. Throughout the negotiations on Wednesday and Thursday, the G-77/CHINA grouping which also includes India called for a balanced New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance that is responsive to developing countries' needs. Meanwhile, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) added that current financial pledges fall far short of what's necessary for meaningful climate action, underscoring a call for urgent and scaled-up contributions.

With these pressures mounting, the co-chairs of COP29 announced they would prepare a draft decision to formalise these arrangements under both the COP (the Conference of Parties) and the CMA (Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement) frameworks, another negotiator told PTI. The Arab Group and the Republic of Korea further stressed that guidance for parties must align strictly with the Paris Agreement's terms.