Indian proposal on fossil fuel phase-down gets more support, but missing from informal draft

India’s call for inserting a provision calling for a phase-down for all fossil fuels has received good support from other countries, civil society organisations and observers. On Wednesday, even the US, learnt to be opposed to it earlier, said it would support it if it focused on unabated use of oil and gas.

“It has to be (about) unabated oil and gas. Phase-down, unabated, over time. The time is a question, but ‘phase-down’ is the language we supported,” a Bloomberg report quoted John Kerry, the US climate envoy, as saying. The European Union had already expressed its support to the proposal.

At the Glasgow conference last year, the developed countries had pushed for a mention of ‘phase-out’ of coal in the final agreement, which, at the last moment, had been changed to ‘phase-down’ on India’s insistence. This year India argued that it was wrong to single out any one energy source as science showed that fossil fuels in general were responsible for causing global warming.

The non-paper has several other provisions, including a full section on loss and damage, progress on which is considered an important marker of success at this conference. It does not mention the creation of a separate financial facility, however, and has left a placeholder for that issue.

The setting up of a finance facility for loss and damage, a key demand of the developing countries, is the continuing subject for intense negotiations here. The developed countries, led by the US, want loss and damage to flow through existing financial instruments, and do not support the creation of a new infrastructure. EU’s climate chief Frans Timmermans had argued on Wednesday that using existing instruments would ensure an immediate flow of funds for loss and damage, while creating a new facility could take years.

On Thursday, the G-77 and China group, the largest negotiating block at the climate conference comprising over 100 developing countries, insisted on its demand for a separate dedicated finance facility, and said it would be the key to success at this meeting. Pakistan, the current chair of the G77 plus China group, said all that the developing countries were asking for was a political statement of intent to create the new facility.

“We understand that this will take time to be set up and operationalized and get the money to flow into it. But it is important. Here, we are seeking just a political statement. If even that much is not acceptable, then it is clear that loss and damage does not matter,” said Nabeel Munir, Pakistan’s ambassador to South Korea and a delegate here.

“We want to be clear… loss and damage is not about charity. We are not asking for dole outs. Loss and damage is climate justice,” he said.

Meanwhile, Timmermans reiterated on Thursday that big economies like China must be asked to contribute to loss and damage funding.

“We should look at the world as it is today in terms of economic position, and not as it was in the 1990s. The world can no longer be defined between developed and developing countries. It is far more complex than that and that needs to be reflected here,” he said.

China has ruled out taking on any financial responsibility on loss and damage.