Cement, Energy and Environment

agreement among all parties with many groups having fundamentally different positions is therefore difficult. Way forward will be to forge an inclusive text that can seNe as the negotiating document and has a political agreement on broad issues. It would be a great challenge because of diverse country positions and therefore require certain degree of flexibility from all countries. Political agreement on broad issues can be followed by intensified discussions and meetings for the finer issues relating to the operational aspects. For example, the highly technical issues involving details of a global architecture could be dealt by a permanent expert body like the WTO to provide for additional negotiation space, this will also separate political and technical discussions. Further, the standing items on the agenda, like mitigation, finance, REDO+, adaptation, technology transfer, national appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs), measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) have multiple interlinkages and dependencies needing ar. integrated approach in the negotiation process and a permanent body would be an appropriate platform. Moreover, the time between the negotiation of a treaty and its entry into force can span several years coupled with the time taken in its translation into national Jaw and ultimately into national policies is huge as against the time available to limit global emissions. The formation of a permanent body and its operationalisation may also be a slow process, therefore, bottom up approaches and immediate domestic actions (national climate change plans of various countries) which can later be recognized in the international regime are the way forward and immediate next steps. Courtesy: the energy business, Vol. 01, July 2010, P10. INDIA FOR CARBON EQUITY India will take up a leadership role on the issues of global carbon budget and seek support from various countries in equitable access to atmospheric space in the run up to the Cancun climate change meet, said environment minister Jairam Ramesh. India cannot and will not accept any agreement which does not have its fundamental principle of "equity and equitable access to global atmospheric space," he said. "In the next six months in the run-up to Cancun , India wi ll take the leadership role on the issue of a global carbon budget," Ramesh said. Our strategy must also be based on both per capita emission principles along with per capita income, which are "constituent elements of equity strategy," he stressed. Courtesy: the energy business, Vol. 01, July 2010, P14. DEVELOPING NATIONS WANT 2011 CLIMATE PACT DEADLINE A group of developing countries, among the world's fastest growing carbon emitters, said on 25.4.201 0 that a legally binding global agreement to limit climate change needed to be completed by 2011 at the latest. Environment ministers of the BASIC bloc - Brazil, South Africa, India, and China - met in Cape Town to look at how to fast track such a deal to curb global warming. More than 100 countries have backed a non– binding accord, agreed in Copenhagen last year to limit global warming to below 2'C above pre-industrial times, but it did not spell out how this should be achieved. It included a goal of $1 00 billion in aid for developing nations from 2020. The United States supports the Copenhagen Accord but many emerging economies do not want it to supplant the 1992 UN Climate Convention, which more clearly spells out that rich nations have to take the lead in cutting emissions and combating climate change. Courtesy: TERI {The Energy Resources Institute) Newswire, 16-30 April 2010, P19. THE EU REMAINS COMMITTED TO THE KYOTO PROTOCOL From 7-9 April 2010, EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard visited India to have meetings with representatives of the Government of India, IPCC Chairman Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, NGOs, industry, academia and think tanks. The visit forms part of the round of consultation of key international partners that European Commission President Barroso has asked Commissioner Hedegaard to undertake to find ways to reinvigorate the international climate change process and pave the way for a successful outcome of the next meeting of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change in Cancun, Mexico, end of 201 0. Commissioner Hedegaard met, among others, with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and the Minister of Coal & Mines, Prakash Jaiswal. Commissioner Hedegaard emphasized in her meetings that the Cancun process should in the first place be used to find 39