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The world on Saturday got a historic climate deal with all 196 countries approving the Paris text that got unprecedented support from all quarters.
It will formally be signed in New York on April 22, 2016. The UN secretary-general will invite all the world leaders for high-level signature ceremony for this.
India, considered quite a tough nation to be on board before the beginning of the summit and even during the talks, is satisfied with it. French president Francois Hollande even spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone and is learnt to have appreciated India's role in the upcoming historic deal.
Before the approval of the agreement, India's environment minister Prakash Javadekar said, "After the first glance of the text, we are happy that it takes care of concerns of India".
Noting that differentiation for developed and developing countries are maintained across all pillars of actions - mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology transfer, capacity building and transparency, he said, "That is very important. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always espoused case of sustainable development and climate justice ... Both these have found mention in the text. That is an important achievement for India".
Though the other critical issue - climate finance (money which is to be given by rich nations to developing countries for their adaptation and mitigation efforts) - has also been taken care of, the move to put it in the decision text is a bit of concern as the quantum of contribution will not be legally binding on rich nations.
The developed countries will provide $100 billion by 2020 and also scale it up later, but this point is not there in the agreement part of the text.
Still, the draft decision stipulates that the $100 billion per year planned for 2020 will be a floor and not the ceiling as the new quantified target will need to be set up by 2025.
Environmentalists see a red in shifting the point to the decision text of the final draft. Sunita Narain, chief of the Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, "The differentiation has been maintained by stating that developed countries will provide support to developing countries for both mitigation and adaptation. This is the only place where equity has been operationalized.
"But, we know that the promise of finances has always been illusionary. So, whereas the previous draft mentioned $100 billion to be made available, it has now been removed in the current draft agreement".
She, however, welcomed the fact that the draft agreement is under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and will be guided by its principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) - the point very crucial for all developing countries ever since they had been working on the draft.
The shift in finance clause, however, brought rich countries on board. It is learnt the US-led umbrella group of developed countries and EU nations are fully agreed to the text. Though they did not want differentiation to be maintained on all pillars of the UN Convention, they moved a bit when developing countries sought to compromise on the clause of finance and the issue of loss and damage (financial help extended to vulnerable countries hit by disasters).
The agreement put loss and damage in a separate article but it doesn't provide basis for compensation or liability. These kinds of compromises are there in the text for both rich bloc and developing countries.
And all these compromises have, at least, been made to make Paris a success. The French foreign minister and COP21 president Laurent Fabius rightly put up this point while asking the countries to make a little bit of compromise to sign a deal for the humanity and future generations.
Before releasing the final text, he said, "Of course everyone will not get 100 % of his requirements. When there are 196 Parties on an issue that complex, if everyone demands for 100%, then in the end everyone gets 0%. A spirit of compromise has to be shown".
Fabius brought the text after several rounds of consultations. The text was circulated to minister at 1.30pm (6pm IST). Later, all the representatives of 196 countries assembled in the plenary (called Paris committee) to take a final call.
The process of taking final decision was still on till this report went to press. Javadekar and ministers of many other countries are expected to present their point of views on the text formally during the meeting.
Before going for the meeting, Javadekar said, "I hope that this agreement will be a historic agreement and will be fulfilling the aspirations of 7 billion people of the world as they want to see that the earth must be saved".
Hollande during his speech on Saturday afternoon even cites the terror attacks on Paris that had hit the Capital a month ago (November 13) and appealed the countries to vote for life while moving on this historic path.
While Fabius ended his pre-text release speech by quoting Nelson Mandela saying "It always seem impossible until it is done", the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-monn said", " We have to do as science dictates. We must protect the planet that sustains us. For that we need all the hands on deck".
It will formally be signed in New York on April 22, 2016. The UN secretary-general will invite all the world leaders for high-level signature ceremony for this.
India, considered quite a tough nation to be on board before the beginning of the summit and even during the talks, is satisfied with it. French president Francois Hollande even spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone and is learnt to have appreciated India's role in the upcoming historic deal.
Before the approval of the agreement, India's environment minister Prakash Javadekar said, "After the first glance of the text, we are happy that it takes care of concerns of India".
Noting that differentiation for developed and developing countries are maintained across all pillars of actions - mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology transfer, capacity building and transparency, he said, "That is very important. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always espoused case of sustainable development and climate justice ... Both these have found mention in the text. That is an important achievement for India".
Though the other critical issue - climate finance (money which is to be given by rich nations to developing countries for their adaptation and mitigation efforts) - has also been taken care of, the move to put it in the decision text is a bit of concern as the quantum of contribution will not be legally binding on rich nations.
The developed countries will provide $100 billion by 2020 and also scale it up later, but this point is not there in the agreement part of the text.
Still, the draft decision stipulates that the $100 billion per year planned for 2020 will be a floor and not the ceiling as the new quantified target will need to be set up by 2025.
Environmentalists see a red in shifting the point to the decision text of the final draft. Sunita Narain, chief of the Delhi-based think-tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, "The differentiation has been maintained by stating that developed countries will provide support to developing countries for both mitigation and adaptation. This is the only place where equity has been operationalized.
"But, we know that the promise of finances has always been illusionary. So, whereas the previous draft mentioned $100 billion to be made available, it has now been removed in the current draft agreement".
She, however, welcomed the fact that the draft agreement is under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and will be guided by its principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) - the point very crucial for all developing countries ever since they had been working on the draft.
The shift in finance clause, however, brought rich countries on board. It is learnt the US-led umbrella group of developed countries and EU nations are fully agreed to the text. Though they did not want differentiation to be maintained on all pillars of the UN Convention, they moved a bit when developing countries sought to compromise on the clause of finance and the issue of loss and damage (financial help extended to vulnerable countries hit by disasters).
The agreement put loss and damage in a separate article but it doesn't provide basis for compensation or liability. These kinds of compromises are there in the text for both rich bloc and developing countries.
And all these compromises have, at least, been made to make Paris a success. The French foreign minister and COP21 president Laurent Fabius rightly put up this point while asking the countries to make a little bit of compromise to sign a deal for the humanity and future generations.
Before releasing the final text, he said, "Of course everyone will not get 100 % of his requirements. When there are 196 Parties on an issue that complex, if everyone demands for 100%, then in the end everyone gets 0%. A spirit of compromise has to be shown".
Fabius brought the text after several rounds of consultations. The text was circulated to minister at 1.30pm (6pm IST). Later, all the representatives of 196 countries assembled in the plenary (called Paris committee) to take a final call.
The process of taking final decision was still on till this report went to press. Javadekar and ministers of many other countries are expected to present their point of views on the text formally during the meeting.
Before going for the meeting, Javadekar said, "I hope that this agreement will be a historic agreement and will be fulfilling the aspirations of 7 billion people of the world as they want to see that the earth must be saved".
Hollande during his speech on Saturday afternoon even cites the terror attacks on Paris that had hit the Capital a month ago (November 13) and appealed the countries to vote for life while moving on this historic path.
While Fabius ended his pre-text release speech by quoting Nelson Mandela saying "It always seem impossible until it is done", the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-monn said", " We have to do as science dictates. We must protect the planet that sustains us. For that we need all the hands on deck".
