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Science & Environment

UN battle looms over finance as nations submit climate plans

By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News
2 October 2015

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Divisions over money between rich and poor countries re-emerged as nations submitted
their plans for tackling climate change to the UN.
India, the last big emitter to publish its contribution, said it would need $2.5 trillion to meet its
targets.
The Philippines said that without adequate climate compensation, their cuts in emissions
wouldn't happen.
The UN says the plans increase the likelihood of a strong global treaty.
148 countries, out of a total of 196, have met a UN deadline for submitting a plan, termed an
Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).
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These INDCs cover close to 90% of global emissions of carbon dioxide. The commitments will
form the centrepiece of a new global agreement on climate change that nations hope to agree in
Paris in December.
Independent analysts at the Climate Action Tracker said that the plans, when added up, meant
the world was on track for temperature rises of 2.7 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.
This is above the 2 degree target generally accepted
as the threshold for dangerous climate change. But it
is a significant improvement on a previous
assessment of 3.1 degrees, made when fewer plans
had been submitted.
India's contribution, which promised to reduce the
carbon intensity of their emissions but didn't commit
to peaking their CO2, drew praise from around the
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I am telling the world that the bill

for climate action for the world is
not just $100bn, it is in trillions of
dollars per year
Prakash Javadekar, India's environment
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to peaking their CO2, drew praise from around the

world.

minister

"It's highly significant that India is joining the ranks of

so many other developed and developing countries in putting serious commitments on the table
ahead of the Paris climate talks," said former UK environment minister Richard Benyon MP.

Scary numbers
But many environmentalists were critical, saying the plan would see a "phenomenal increase" in
the use of coal.
"We're especially disappointed to not see a concrete renewable target," said Pujarini Sen from
Greenpeace India.
"They are talking about 40% of electric power coming from non-fossil sources by 2030. This is
not 40% renewable energy, it includes nukes, it includes large dams."
The plan says that India's transition will cost $2.5 trillion, a "scary number" according to one
observer.
It is unclear how much of this money will come from India's own resources and how much from
the international community and investment.
In their written submission, India's proposed climate actions appear to be contingent on
getting much of this money from richer countries: "The successful implementation of INDC is
contingent upon an ambitious global agreement including additional means of implementation to
be provided by developed country parties."
Developed countries have committed to $100bn funding for developing countries to deal with
climate change by 2020, but India's environment minister suggested the bill was going to a lot
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bigger than that.

"I am telling the world that the bill for climate action for the world is not just $100bn, it is in trillions
of dollars per year," said Prakash Javadekar.
"Countries will take up their own responsibility but the world which is historically responsible for
carbon emissions, what we are suffering today, the climate change, they must at least walk the
talk on $100bn."
Some observers believe that India and others are using the INDCs to begin the negotiation
process and to highlight how important money is, especially to developing countries.
"The thing that what has the least clarity in this process is the finance issue," said Liz Gallagher
from environmental think-tank E3G.
"They are kind of using the INDCs to really deliver that message. It's a big prod to the developed
countries to wake up because they haven't sorted this yet."
Several countries in their submissions also pointed to the question of loss and damage.
This issue has become highly contentious in recent years as developing countries have
sought some form of compensation for the ongoing impacts of a changing climate. The richer
nations have strongly resisted this idea, fearing a legal liability.
The Philippines was quite clear in linking their plans to slash emissions by 70% by 2030 to
getting money for loss and damage.
"The Philippine INDC assumes that loss and damages from climate change and extreme events
will not require diversion of substantial resources for rehabilitation and reconstruction thereby
adversely affecting the country's capacity to meet national development targets," they said in
their submission.
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Other countries have put a figure in their INDCs on the amount of loss and damage they have
suffered in recent years. Serbia, for example, says that in the period between 2000 and 2015
they suffered losses of 5bn euros thanks to floods and droughts.
This focus on loss and damage means that it is likely to feature heavily in the negotiations in
Paris.
"There are some legal red lines for many countries, including the US, around the form of
compensation and what that would mean," said Liz Gallagher.
"But as a rational and a political choice, loss and damage has to be at the heart of the agreement
and that is going to be an important challenge."
Negotiators will meet in Bonn later this month to review a draft of a new deal ahead of the Paris
meeting a month later.
Follow Matt on Twitter: @mattmcgrathbbc

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