India might benefit from equity parameters

Katowice (Poland): At the ongoing 24th session of the Conference of Parties (COP24) here, the striking debate of ‘fair share’ remains to be critical, with developed countries pushing for laying down indicators of equity.
In the context of climate debate, equity refers to maintaining a balance of taking responsibility between the countries suffering from climate change and those which contributed to it. Ever since the Paris Agreement in 2016, the main argument has been that national pledges made by countries should take into account that the developed countries have contributed more to the global emissions.

According to delegates, some developed countries have hinted towards framing indicators for equity in the recent negotiations. “Talks have been going on about introducing parameters to categorize countries. The indicators will most likely be based on historical and current emissions,” said a senior negotiator from India.

Whether it is historical or current emissions, there are high chances that India will find itself “less responsible” compared to other nations. “India’s current emissions per capita and gross domestic product (GDP) are very low. If the developed countries decide on these lines, we will welcome the decision. This means that emerging economies like us will have to bear less responsibility and less stringent accounting measures,” the negotiator added.

Climate experts, however, offer a word of advice. “The indicators of equitable distribution of emission will be based on income per person. The higher the income of a country, more is the share of its per capita emissions. Rather than hiding behind the poor, India should hold the rich accountable by imposing tax and incentivise the poor part of the population to reduce its emissions,” said Sanjay Vashist, director of Climate Action Network (CAN), South-East Asia.

Stating that the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) of the developing countries are higher than the developed ones, Vashist added, “Equitable distribution of responsibilities should be the bed rock on climate negotiations. Developed countries are running away from their historic responsibilities and have left no stone unturned to shift their burden of emission reduction on developing countries.”