BASIC Countries Demand Fulfillment of Climate Finance Commitments

All the BASIC countries including Brazil, South Africa, India and China have called on developed nations to implement their climate finance pledges as per Paris accord. This call is an indication of the escalating impatience of developing countries over inadequate financial input to support climate change mitigation, which is a key component of global climate change mitigation efforts. They have also dismissed as real attempts by developed countries to water down their financial responsibilities and pass the costs of controlling greenhouse gases to the developing world.

The Paris Agreement signed in 2015 aims at the maximum globe temperature increase at 2°C below the pre-industrial values and the effort to lower it to 1.5°C in case possible. Such lofty goals presuppose a significant investment in funding, especially for the developing countries for which the Financial Resources to shift to cleaner energy systems, alter for climate change equality, and fulfil the parity of CARs and OARs needed. BASIC nations have time and again called upon the developed countries to fulfill their pledge of financing $100 billion annually concerning climate change which was agreed upon at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009 but none has been met fully.

In the recent COP, the BASIC countries have advocated for climate actions under the Paris Agreement to implement the agreement fairly and seriously through equity insisting on the CBDR-RC approach. They contend that it is the developed states that are most culpable for the emissions of the greenhouse gases having contributed the most to the emissions, therefore they should come up with the aids and funds to support developing nations.

This is because the developed countries have failed to honor their pledges thus eroding confidence in the multilateral climate objectives and denying the new economy nations the chance to transition to green technologies, environment and climate sustainable structures plus development. BASIC countries have also demned efforts aimed at re-defining climate finance as requiring the inclusion of private sector finance, noting that the process waters down the concept and does not meet actual, immediate needs of the most vulnerable nations.

Exam Relevance: This topic comes under GS Paper III on Environment: Climate Finance, Global Environmental Accord, Equity in International Climate Negotiations. It also fits under GS Paper II Indian Relations with other countries more specifically it talks about India in Climate Change Diplomacy among other emerging powers for Climate Justice. These issues can also be used as points for writing an essay in competitive examination.