Double standards on fossil fuel, backtracking on pledges: BASIC fires shots at wealthy countries at COP27

Double standards on fossil fuel, backtracking on pledges: BASIC fires shots at wealthy countries at COP27

Subject : Environment

At COP27- UNFCCC-

• The bloc of four large newly industrialised countries, Brazil, South Africa, India and China, also known as BASIC, have put pressure on developed countries, alleging they have not shown leadership, backtracked on financial commitments and showed double standards on fossil-fuel use.

BASIC countries-

• The BASIC group was formed as the result of an agreement signed by the four countries on November 28, 2009.
• They are a bloc of four large newly industrialized countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

Recent meeting of BASIC-

• A meeting of BASIC was chaired by Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s minister for forestry, fisheries and the environment.
• The representatives also collectively expressed concern that climate adaptation has still not received the appropriate amount of attention and called for a fundamental transformation of the global financial architecture.

Concerns of developing countries raised by BASIC countries-

• BASIC countries have already implemented the ambitious nationally determined contributions goals announced at COP26 despite enormous developmental challenges and pressures of poverty eradication during a global economic downturn and economic recovery.
• The bloc alleging that-
  • developed countries are not doing enough on fossil fuel use — redirecting a complaint often shot by wealthy nations, particularly against China and
  • Significant increase in consumption and production of fossil fuels in the past year by developed countries, even as they continue to press developing countries to move away from the same resources.
• Concerns on Climate finance
  • Climate finance provided by developed countries continues to fall short of the $100 billion per year commitment.
  • Developing countries and especially the BASIC countries have to channel many times this amount of money from their domestic resources or commercial loans.
• Adaptation ignored; multilateral climate funds struggling
  • Adaptation is still not being accorded the “balanced and substantive attention they deserve in the UNFCCC process,” despite the opportunities and linkages with loss and damage. 
  • They also called for to operationalise Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), flagged off in Paris, and underscored the necessity for a special report on GGA to be produced by the UN agency Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to help deepen global understanding of the agenda.
  • Adaptation financing needs to be impact based and the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) by developed countries must, therefore, go beyond the floor of $100 billion per year, be significantly public funded with greater transparency.

Pakistan gets BASIC support-

• India and China vowed to work alongside Pakistan, which is the present chair of Group of 77 and China to “advance the common interests of developing countries”.

Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA)-

• Recognizing that adaptation is a globally relevant issue, the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) was established under the Paris Agreement to enhance work on adaptation with the aim of building adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change.

About New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)-

• The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance is expected to be finalised by 2024.
• It will replace the current climate finance goal of $100 billion annually from developed countries.