29th BASIC Ministerial Meet on Climate Change

News:Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), has participated in the 29th ministerial meeting of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) countries on Climate Change at Beijing,China.

Facts:

Key takeaways from the meeting:

• The ministers emphasized comprehensive implementation of the Paris agreement. 
• They also underlined the importance of effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• The countries also upheld multilateralism and expressed their willingness to nature-based solutions, innovation and technology
• They appreciated the Polish Presidency contribution to the Paris Agreement Work Program.They also appreciated Costa Rica for hosting the upcoming Pre-COP25.

Additional information:

About BASIC:

• The BASIC group was formed as the result of an agreement signed by the four countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) on 28th November, 2009.
• The signatory nations committed to acting together at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit which had happened in Copenhagen,Denmark on December 7,2009.
• Subsequently,the Copenhagen Summit resulted in Copenhagen Accord between the US and BASIC countries. 
• Since then,the BASIC countries have met regularly to address the common concerns and interests of the developing countries vis-a-vis developed countries regarding climate change.

The Paris agreement:

• It is an international agreement with the framework of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
• It seeks to combat climate change and accelerate the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.
• The Paris agreement aims to (a)keep global temperature rise in the 21st century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and (b) pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.