Mitigation is the most contentious issue in the negotiation process; Commitment by Annex I Parties so far falls far short of what Bangladesh along with G77 and China and LDCs are asking for; on the contrary the advanced developing countries within the Non-Annex I Parties are not willing to accept any form of commitment in the second and subsequent commitment periods. Annex I Parties are arguing for emission reduction by Non-Annex I Parties, as advanced developing countries emissions have already overtaken some of the smaller developed countries’ emission level. According to some report China has taken over USA as the largest emitter of GHGs. The over-all status regarding mitigation is still under debate and any agreement is unlikely to be achieved under mitigation.
Bangladesh calls for in association with other developing countries groups to achieve the following mitigation targets for the future climate change scenario;
– GHG emission reductions by Annex-1 countries by 45% by 2020 and 90-95% by 2050 compared to 1990.
– These emission reductions by Annex-1 countries to be achieved primarily through domestic efforts, but also using market-based mechanisms with a possible quantified limit, 10-15% (in their own economies).
– Peaking of GHG concentration by 2015.
– Keeping temperature rise within 1.5oC.
– Keeping GHG concentration in the atmosphere below or at 350 PPM by 2100.
Position on the Mitigation of the Developing Countries (Under 1b(i) of Bali Action Plan)
Possible elements related to MRV Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA) by developing countries and MRV of support to developing countries:
– Developed country Parties to provide enhanced financial, technological and capacity-building support for development and implementation of nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing country Parties and for enhanced reporting by these Parties;
– Set up a registry to record information on mitigation actions seeking support, and information on the provision of support linking to financial mechanism under convention;
– Domestically supported mitigation actions will be verified domestically in accordance with general guidelines under the Convention and develop general guidelines for domestic verification;
– Supported actions will be measured, reported and varied in accordance with requirements of entity providing support.
– Enhance reporting in Non-Annex I National Communications on mitigation actions including both supported and unsupported NAMA, and support received in accordance with revised guidelines for Non-Annex I national Communications; SBSTA may develop this revised guidelines;
– Submit GHG inventories and information on mitigation actions through National Communications every 3 to 4 years. LDCs and SIDs will submit National Communication every 5-6 years depending on their national GHG emissions subject to provisions of financial and technical support;
– Agree to consider these National Communications within a multilateral forum under the Convention and in a manner that is facilitative and non-punitive fully respects national sovereignty increases transparency and accountability of mitigation actions includes a technical analysis by experts
– Existing body like SBSTA may initiate the process for development of various modalities and guidelines to be completed by 2011.
Position on Adaptation
Bangladesh along with other vulnerable countries is demanding equal status for adaptation similar to that of mitigation. Bangladesh emphasized that adaptation is crucial for the survival of LDCs as the impacts of climate change is increasingly observed in many parts of the globe.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh emphasized that adaptation has a limit and much depends on the successful mitigation efforts. Bangladesh is pressing for the following issues under Adaptation; Bangladesh for long has been advocating for an adaptation framework for addressing adaptation actions at the ground. At the moment Parties are in broad agreement of the usefulness of an Adaptation Framework and the discussion is focusing on the elements of the Adaptation Framework.
Bangladesh is in favour of the Establishment of A New Fund under the Convention (as proposed under the Finance Chapter); to ensure a simplified and easier access of financial resources for Adaptation under the proposed New Fund. Bangladesh in Principle is in favour of a new institutional arrangement for the implementation of the Adaptation Framework and is also advocating for an Adaptation Committee.
Preferential treatment for LDCs for Adaptation Action is also being advocated by Bangladesh along other LDCs; the view is being opposed by other vulnerable developing countries especially some Latin American Countries and few Asian countries. Importance of National and Regional Centres are widely accepted by all the Parties; in addition Bangladesh has also highlighted the importance of an International Adaptation Centre for coordinated implementation of adaptation actions at the ground.
In addition Bangladesh has taken into consideration the following issues as the basis for their stand on Adaptation;
– Mandatory contributions from Annex-I Parties for meeting the cost of adaptation in developing countries, which should come primarily from ‘public sources’.
– Financial resources should be over and above the 0.7% of the GNI of developed countries as promised under overseas development assistance (ODA); the new climate change financial resources should not be less than 1.5% of the GDP of the Annex-I Parties, prioritizing allocation to the LDCs and SIDS.
– Adaptation fund must be provided on a grant basis (not as concessional loans).
– Finance should be sustainable and in line with sovereign ownership of the recipient countries, and should be free from the domination of the existing international financial architecture especially from the World Bank.
Position on Finance
Adequate and predictable financial resources are crucial for the implementation of both Adaptation and Mitigation actions. Hence financial issues are at the centre of adaptation and mitigation discussion. The negotiation under finance is centred on whether a New Fund will be created and if created, what will be the institutional arrangements of that fund. Developed Countries are questioning, in the era of a new fund what will be the role of the existing financial institutions. Bangladesh is engaged in the finance discussion based on the following basic principles;
– The main source of funding through the financial mechanism shall be new and additional financial resources, Public sources of funds of developed countries will be the source of these funds.
– Financial resources should be provided through the enhanced financial architecture and be under the authority, guidance, and be fully accountable to the COP.
– Bangladesh may support the proposal of establishment of a Finance Board for the proposed financial mechanism.
– Fast track procedures for easy and direct access of funding should be ensured.
– Bangladesh also supports setting up of an ‘Ad-hoc’ Committee, to spearhead the process of operationalisation of the Fund under the authority and guidance of the COP, with equitable and balanced representation of the Parties.
Position on Technology Transfer
Within this overall development and climate policy context, a key issue of climate negotiation is to develop framework and mechanisms to transfer technologies from the developed countries to the developing ones to enable them to achieve development equity and environmental sustainability, and to follow a low emission, climate resilient development path. In this backdrop, increasing importance of technology issues has been given on the agenda of negotiations in the climate policy regime. For example, two of the five pillars in the Bali Plan of Action (Bali, December 2007) focued on enhanced actions on and provision of financial resources to enable technology development and transfer.
At the Poznan Strategic Program on Technology Transfer was adopted as a step towards scaling up the level of investment in technology transfer in order to help developing countries address their needs for environmentally sound technologies. Finally, the Copenhagen Accord of December 2009 contains a paragraph on the establishment in the future of a Technology Mechanism “…to accelerate technology development and transfer in support of action on adaptation and mitigation that will be guided by a country-driven approach and be based on national circumstances and priorities.”
Although, the issue of technology transfer has been discussed among the state Parties, the governmental context is that governments could basically transfer nothing. As per intellectual property rights (IPR) the technologies are owned by the private sector and therefore the governments could not transfer these. That is why trade ministers from different country Parties and representatives from the World Trade Organization (WTO) are increasingly taking part in the climate talks, basically to explore possible options of trading environment-friendly technologies developed by the Annex I country Parties.
Technology transfer to the developing countries should not just be about opening up of environmental goods and services market, but about enabling the developing countries to access and procure these goods and services, and facilitate the ability of developing countries to use these technologies for emission reduction and to adapt to climate change. Thus the trade liberalization for goods and services that has been pushed by the WTO’s multilateral trade mechanism would result in nothing unless a ‘package of capacity building and facilitation’ measure is included with the process of technology transfer. Bangladesh position on technology transfer are;
– LDCs should be provided with necessary financial assistance and technology cooperation in upgrading indigenous technologies through innovation, creating markets for relevant technologies with the right kind of investment and enabling environment;
– Support is to be provided to the developing countries for upgrading indigenous technologies through innovation, creating markets for relevant technologies with the right kind of investment and enabling environment, as well as promoting private sector participation between the developed and developing countries.
– LDCs should be exempted from the obligation of patent protection of climate related technologies for adaptation and mitigation technology, as required for capacity building and development.
– Development of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Technologies must be kept outside the present IPR regime.
– Annex I Parties should support Innovative Climate Change Research and technology development and make it freely available to the developing country Parties.
– There should be emphasis on joint research and development.
– Patented technologies should be made available free of charge to the LDC/SIDS.
– Compulsory licensing for already patented technologies can be means for increasing the accessibility to those technologies.
– Bangladesh may also support the establishment of the technology mechanism to supervise overall technology development and transfer issues.
– LDCs, SIDS, Africa should be provided with necessary financial and technological resources to assist in their efforts to upgrade indigenous technologies through innovation and properly putting them to use as well as to acquire necessary technologies from appropriate outside sources.
– LDCs, SIDS, Africa should be exempted from obligations relating to patent protection in respect of climate change related technologies required for capacity building and development in the context of mainly adaptation but also mitigation.
– Development of climate change adaptation and mitigation technologies must be kept outside intellectual properly rights (IPR) regime.
– Genetic resources, that are essential for adaptation in agriculture, must not be patented by multinational or any other corporations. These should also not be considered as traded items under the IPR regime of WTO.
– Annex-I Parties should support innovative climate change research and technology development, making the outcome available to LDCs, SIDS, and Africa free of cost.
– The Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) process already initiated by the UNFCCC must also identify the countries where the required technology exists and include consultation meeting to discuss the availability of the needed financial support and the technology on a bilateral and/or multilateral basis.