'Basic four' – Key element of Mexico Conference

With the 2010 UN Climate Change Conference scheduled in Mexico later this year, the topic of climate change takes the forefront at many international conferences. During the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, the "basic four" were frequently mentioned and appear likely to be under the spotlight in negotiations on climate change.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), laid out their ideas and focused on the basic four, a group which originated in November last year.

Faced with global issues of climate change, China, India, Brazil and South Africa gathered in Beijing to consult the basic standpoints for the first time, on the eve of the opening of Copenhagen Conference. Since then, the four countries have become known as the "basic four." The basic four is a temporary consultation mechanism on the climate issue that depends largely on common interests of the four countries and as such is different from regular consultation mechanisms such as G7, G20. The four countries agreed that climate change negotiations should be carried out under the framework of UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol and Bali Road Map.

During Copenhagen Conference in December, ministers of basic four held a press conference to reaffirm their stand on issues. On December 16, the basic four jointly attacked the President of the Assembly, forcing the unexpected "Danish text" to be removed from the normal negotiating process. The emergence of the basic four during the Conference demonstrated to developed countries the solidarity of the developing countries. The basic four text on the outcome document of Copenhagen meeting, which efficiently safeguarded the interests of the developing world, was widely welcomed and recognized by the majority of developing countries. Finally, the group helped broker an agreement that has come to be known as the Copenhagen Accord, under which 28 nations pledged to reduce emissions and make their reduction efforts subject to international review. The basic four would submit their plans to the UN in the near future.

China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has already stated it would cut its carbon intensity – a measure of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of production – by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020, compared with the levels of 2005. India, the fifth largest polluter, said by 2020 it would reduce its carbon intensity by 20 percent to 25 percent.

Brazil's carbon emissions reduction goal is 36.1-38.9 percent by 2020, which mainly relies on reducing deforestation.

South Africa offered to curb the growth of carbon dioxide emissions by 34 percent by 2020 and 42 percent by 2025 with financial support. The goal, its leaders said, would be to have the country's emissions peak between those years and start to decline in absolute terms by 2035.

The group also called on Denmark, chair of the climate conference, to convene a series of meetings this year to begin discussions on a legally binding climate deal ahead of a conference in Mexico in December. Facing a Jan. 31 deadline, major countries have yet to submit their plans for reducing emissions of climate-altering gases, one of the major provisions of the agreement. Fewer than two dozen countries have submitted letters, saying they agree to the terms of the three-page accord. There has been virtually no progress on spelling out the terms of nearly $30 billion in short-term financial assistance promised to those countries expected to be hardest hit by climate change. Basic questions about who will donate, how much, where the money will go and who will oversee the spending remain unresolved. China, Brazil, India and South Africa called on developed economies to begin handing over the $10 billion pledged in Copenhagen to poor countries to deal with the effects of climate change. The first funds should go to the least developed countries, including small island states and African countries.

After Copenhagen Conference, the basic four continued efforts in helping shape the agreement in New Delhi to review the Copenhagen agreement and plan for the next phase of talks. Without a commitment to such plans, pledges by large polluters in the developing world to cut emissions, a major accomplishment at Copenhagen, will have been thwarted. Therefore, before the climate conference steps into Mexico, the UN has proposed three principles regarding negotiations. Firstly, information transparency and openness, meaning it's incorrect to hold closed-door meetings and exclude other countries. Secondly, all decisions from the closed-door meetings should be back into assembly meeting in time in order to obtain the consent of all nations. Thirdly, all nations should be allowed to make a choice according to their own conditions. It's absolutely necessary to have exchanges and communications on finance and technique and aspects of carbon emissions. Whether or not all countries do in fact decide to respect these terms remains to be seen.

It is critical for the United States and other major emerging economies to formally agree their pollution-reduction targets in the accord. It will depend on how countries treat that deadline. The success of the accord hinges on the creation of a rigorous and enforceable system of monitoring and verifying emissions-reduction programs. The accord calls for such a system, but does not provide details.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/node_7079734.htm