(Professor He’s Presentation at the Workshop on Equitable Access to Sustainable Development, International Climate Negotiation in Bonn, May in 2012)
The principles of equity and sustainable development are the core and pillars of the Convention, and also the fundamental guidance to long-term international cooperative action on climate change. “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” is the concrete embodiment of the principles of equity and sustainable development. The Article 3.1 stated that “the Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and respective capabilities” and Article 3.4 also proposed that “the Parties have a right to, and should, promote sustainable development”, which actually embodied the shared vision for long-term global cooperative action.
The developed countries have over-occupied most of the existing atmospheric space through their cumulative emissions, which seriously do harm to the opportunity for “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” in developing countries to address the climate change. Developed countries to take the actions for substantial emissions reductions consistent with their historical responsibility and scientific requirements are the basis of “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” in developing countries. The developed countries population accounts for only 20% of the world total, but their cumulative CO2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution accounted for 75%. According to estimates of the cumulative emissions per capita, the developed countries have occupied far beyond its due share, and have created the serious inequality. After two decades since the Convention were ratified, although the proportion of total global carbon emissions in developing countries increased, but the basic fact of the calculated cumulative emissions per capita of their historical responsibilities have not changed. The per capita emission levels in the developed countries in the present and future will remain higher than in developing countries, but the ambitions on actions now and commitments for future is incredibly low and vastly disproportionate to their historical responsibility, and we note with grave concern the significant gap between the scientific requirements and their pledges. This is essentially a continuous transfer of mitigation responsibility to developing countries, which expand and create new inequality, and further occupy and compress the development room of the developing countries and seriously do harm to the opportunity for “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” in developing countries to address the climate change.
Developed countries are primarily responsible for global climate change. The adequate financing and technology transfer support to developing countries is the obligation of developed countries and also the premise for developing countries to make further efforts to address climate change. Developed countries are primarily responsible for global climate change, but the impacts of global warming and climate disasters are majorly suffered by developing countries, especially the least developed countries, small island developing states and Africa. Developed countries should take the lead in emission reduction, and provide developing countries with adequate financing, technology transfer and capacity building support, as their obligations under the Convention and compensation for their historical responsibility and enable the “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” in developing countries. The current shortage of financing and technology transfer are the bottlenecks for developing countries to adapt to and mitigate climate change. According to UNDP estimates of total annual mitigation and adaptation costs to address climate change by 2030 range from $249 billion to $1,371 billion, however the fast start-up funds of $30 billion commitment by developed countries is still far from being in place, medium-term funding for 2013 to 2020 and the long-term funding beyond 2020 are also not implemented but in their attempt to push to the market and the private sectors, and the technology transfer under the Convention has been no substantive progress. According to the Stockholm Environment Institute and other researches, there is broad agreement that Non-Annex I contributions to mitigation are much greater than Annex I pledges by 2020, the Annex I Parties should enhance the mitigation ambitions and take further actions, while the great efforts made by developing countries should get the full recognition. The premise for developing countries to make further efforts to address climate change is that developed countries provide adequate financing and technology transfer support to developing countries for more mitigation and adaptation actions.
The specific development stages and national circumstances in developing countries should be taken fully into considerations, and the economic and social sustainable development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country Parties. Economic development, social progress and environmental protection, are the three pillars of sustainable development. The Convention also stated that “responses to climate change should be coordinated with social and economic development in an integrated manner with a view to avoiding adverse impacts on the latter, taking into full account the legitimate priority needs of developing countries for the achievement of sustained economic growth and the eradication of poverty”. Developed countries have completed their industrialization in the early 1970s, but their energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the following 40 years continued to grow or remain stable in high level, in most of which energy-related CO2 emissions is still on plateau without peaking and significant decline. The developing countries lagged behind several decades in economic development than the developed countries, and it is the common law of development that energy consumption continues to grow in industrialization and urbanization. Those are also the basic rights of the developing countries to “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” which can’t be deprived. The per capita energy consumption and CO2 emissions of developing countries in past and present are far lower than developed countries, so that their peaking of CO2 emissions will be accordingly later for some reasonable time. Evading the historical responsibility of developed countries, without the substantial emission reductions by themselves and adequate financing and technology transfer support to developing countries, but blindly imposing the developing countries to peak prematurely and decline dramatically is neither plausible nor feasible, and will surely be the harsh constraints to sustainable development in developing countries, which bring unbearable losses and striking impacts on poverty eradication, economic and social development. Such approach, as the fact of the opposition between the climate change mitigation and equable access to sustainable development, will only consequently lose the support and trust of the majority of people in developing countries, and the result would then be counterproductive. The crucial issues on increasing the mitigation ambitions is that all Parties should make the efforts for the 2°C goal in accordance with the requirements of sustainable development, according to the equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities principle and national circumstances.
The comprehensive implementation of the principles of equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities are the basis to enable “Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” in developing countries and the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention. The current and future negotiations should take the equity principle as the guidance, with full implementation of the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities, to create fair opportunities and equitable regimes for sustainable development of all Parties, but not to create new inequalities for developing countries.
“Equitable Access to Sustainable Development” is a long term and fundamental issue in UNFCCC negotiations. We should take this workshop as an opportunity to encourage discussions and exchanges, and also propose more discussion on this crucial issue to further promote understanding and consensus of all parties, to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention. A work program on equity should be established to further define EASD in the context of Shared Vision and a broader negotiation.
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