Paris 2015 climate pact to be one among all for all: France

Posted on 6th Feb 2015 by mohit kumar

New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius Thursday said the Paris 2015 agreement, crucial to guide the post-2020 global climate change initiatives, would be an "ambitious", even-handed agreement "among all", aiming to ensure sustainable growth complementing social progress "for all".

Speaking in his capacity of chairperson of the COP21, the world climate change conference to be held in the French capital later this year, Fabius shared his vision and expectations from the meet at the inaugural session of 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), organised by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) here.

"We will make sure that every voice is heard. This agreement should be an agreement among all and for all. This agreement will have to be ambitious and respond to the scientific call for urgent action. It will need to fully take into account each country's need for development," he said.

During his day-long state visit to India, Fabius also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

Paris is the common platform where over 150 countries would converge in December to discuss, negotiate and hammer out a global climate framework for global partners in the post-Kyoto Protocol regime.

Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change guidelines, the new climate order would seek to guide countries in undertaking initiatives to roll back greenhouse gas emission and adopt clean energy measures that would help cap the global temperature below two degrees.

As the chair, Fabius assured to steward a "transparent, impartial, and ambitious" leadership and spare no effort in carving out a "universal and meaningful" agreement among 195 countries that would seek to limit global carbon emission while aiming to meet everyone's growth imperative along with sustainable development.

"It will require a major shift in our economic models and pursue a low carbon pathway. And it will require strong political leadership and a ollective spirit of responsibility and solidarity."

Scotching the scepticism that developing countries' growth imperative does not conciliate with the measures for environment conservation, Fabius said: "Taking action against climate destruction and poverty reduction should not be regarded as two separate and contradictory goals. Our common goal should be to reconcile human development and the conservation of nature."

Taking a cue from Modi's perspective that regards global awareness on climate change as an opportunity to fight poverty, he said: "The way forward is to ensure sustainable growth that creates wealth, jobs, and social progress. Technology and a right policy framework can ensure a new cycle of sustainable growth and development."

At Paris 2015, Fabius proposed to achieve universal and differentiated agreements that demonstrate actions to achieve "our common objective of limiting the global temperature below two degrees Celsius".

He called upon public and private stakeholders to target a contribution of $100 billion towards the Global Climate Fund (GCF) every year from 2020, "while shifting investment from high carbon to low carbon technologies, new technologies, and new activities".

"Besides governments, we want the COP 21 to gather initiative from other stakeholders like private business, local and regional entities, and civil societies," he said.

Over the past 14 years, the DSDS has been serving as an annual platform to discuss issues of sustainability and relevant policy interventions to ensure a sustainable future.

Themed as "Sustainable Development Goals and Dealing with Climate Change", the 15th edition of the summit will see the presence of UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon (via video conference), former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, TERI director general and chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change R.K. Pachuri as well as other dignitaries and environment enthusiasts from across the world.