Bonn climate meet takeaways: Old conflicts, some forward movement

Source: The post is based on the article “Bonn climate meet takeaways: Old conflicts, some forward movement” published in Indian Express on 21st June 2023

What is the News?

The Bonn Climate Change Conference was held recently to prepare decisions for adoption at the COP28 summit in the United Arab Emirates later this year. 

It is widely regarded as a mid-way check on how talks are progressing ahead of the world’s biggest annual international climate conference.

What are the key outcomes of the Bonn Climate Change Conference?

Global Stocktake(GST): Global stocktake or GST is mandated by the 2015 Paris Agreement. It is an exercise aimed at assessing the progress in the fight against climate change and deciding ways and means to enhance global action to bridge the adequacy gap. The Paris Agreement says GST must be conducted every five years, starting in 2023.

– At the conference, the countries completed the third and final round of technical discussions on global stocktake or GST.

– However, there was repeated fallout between the developed and developing countries mainly over provisions related to finance and the ‘historical responsibility’ of the rich countries.

– For instance, Australia downplayed the ‘historical responsibility’ of the developed countries in causing global warming. 

– A bulk of the accumulated greenhouse gas emissions, the reason for global warming, have come from a group of about 40 rich and industrialized countries, usually referred to as Annex I countries because they were mentioned in Annexure I of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC. 

– This historical responsibility has been the basis for the differentiated burden-sharing on developed and developing countries in the climate change framework.

– But Australia argued that the historical emissions happened at a time “when there was no alternative to fossil fuel-based energy sources”, and when there was little understanding or consensus on the harm caused by greenhouse gases.

Mitigation Work Programme (MWP): It was set up at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 for climate action. It is a temporary emergency exercise focused only on increasing emission cuts. 

– The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says global emissions have to come down by 43% from 2019 levels by 2030 to keep alive hopes of meeting the 1.5-degree target. As of now, emissions are still growing and, in 2021, were higher than 2019 levels.

– However, discussions at the MWP ran into trouble after developing countries complained that while they were being asked to strengthen their climate actions, developed countries were yet to offer the enabling finance and technology transfers. 

– Most developing countries, including India, have said they would be able to act more if international support in the form of money and technology transfer was made available.

– According to one assessment, developing countries need as much as US$ 6 trillion between now and 2030 just to implement their climate action plans. 

Summit in Paris: Summit for a New Global Financial Pact is going to be held in Paris. It is an attempt at redirecting global financial flows and raising new money to fight climate change and dealing with associated problems like biodiversity loss and poverty.