Javadekar hails Paris Agreement as a historical achievement for Mankind

India’s Minister for MoEF&CC Mr. Prakash Javadekar while speaking at the Major Economies Forum in New York on 24th April 2016 said that the Paris agreement is a historical achievement for mankind. He urged all countries to implement it both in letter and spirit. He said “after signing of Paris Agreement the developed world needs to immediately ratify the Kyoto Protocol 2nd commitment period and should present enhanced pre-2020 actions. The second urgent task to be done is mobilisation of $100 billion. Without this crucial mobilisation, many of the developing countries cannot implement their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)”.

He also said that India has submitted its INDCs post-2020 so we must now spell out immediately that early entry into action for pre-2020 action is important. He further said that early fulfillment of $100 billion per year mobilization by developed countries is important, because without means of implementation, many countries’ INDCs will not be fructified.

He said “we should go step-by-step. We are not talking about early entry into force of Paris agreement. It is post-Paris agreement. There are practical difficulties only. Early entry into force will not leave enough time to formalize the procedures and modalities which have to be adopted at the first session of CMA”.

He pointed out that the real issue is pre-2020 actions of developed world as well as developing countries. The Pre-2020 actions of Developed countries should be in accordance with the Principles and provisions of the Convention. He said that these Pre-2020 actions of the developed countries “should be comprehensive, covering all relevant sources, sinks and reservoirs of green house gases, and adaptation as well as finance, technology development and transfer, including cost effective technologies”.

He pointed out that though India is not mandated to take Pre-2020 actions as per Kyoto Protocol, India still has led from the front as far as pre 2020 action is concerned. Secondly, the various institutional mechanisms set up under the Paris agreement – that is, capacity-building, technological mechanism, may not have been put in place to effect by that time…Also most developing countries, including Indian INDCs are conditional upon the means of implementation. “Early entry into force may not leave enough time for developed countries to formulate the roadmap for the provisions of the means of implementation, thereby directly affecting the implementation of INDCs. Moreover, it does not alter the commitments made for the pre-2020 period, which are based on Kyoto Protocol 2nd commitment period, which runs till 2020, under the Doha Agreement” Javadekar added.