Climate Change And The “Trust Deficit” Between Developing And Developed Nations

New Delhi:

Climate change is a global challenge and it must be seen as a common issue for the entire planet to work together on, but it is increasingly caught in the web of whose responsibility it is – the developed world or the developing world, including the Global South. The other challenge being faced is the sharing of technology and financing the shift from fossil fuels to environment-friendly methods.

Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, highlighted the trust deficit towards the developed world and their responsibility, or lack of it, that needs to be addressed on priority.

“The trust deficit is because of a reason,” he said, elucidating that “When we see as India and other developing nations face tremendous pressure to move away from fossil fuels, and we must, but the reality is that there are sill millions who do not have access to energy in the developing world and need support, but in comparison, the developed world continue to increase its fossil fuel consumption.”

“When you look at the global fossil fuel expansion, you see Australia, Canada, Norway, the UK, and the US put together are responsible for more than 50 per cent of the planet’s fossil fuel expansion between now and 2050 – that is where the trust deficit stems from,” he further said, adding that on top of it all, “they are not willing to share technology or help with finance.”

Though he welcomed the new UK government’s decision to stop issuing any more new licences for fossil fuel plants, he highlighted that the licences already issued in the last few years will have a tremendously negative impact on the climate over the next many decades. “The trust deficit is a real issue that needs to be dealt with as the developed nations have not acted based on their historical responsibility and contribute their fair share to the climate challenge, but continue to pressure developing countries to do more, that too without assisting with technology or finance.”

Adding to this, another panelist, Shishir Priyadarshi, who is President of the Chintan Research Foundation said, “From the way the trade agenda was set in 1995 at the WTO, there are lots of lessons to be taken while working on the climate agenda. Why the setting up of the WTO led to a huge trade deficit was because of 2 reasons – One, the developed world made huge promises to the developing world if they simply lowered tariffs and opened up markets, and Second was that the developed world said ‘we know’ and ‘we will tell you how it’s done and what you need to do’, and that is something that led to a huge deficit of trust. That is something that we must avoid while setting the climate agenda”

DEVELOPING COUNTRY DOING FAR MORE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Mr Priyadarchi highlighted how “The developing nations have done, and are doing far more to address climate change.”

Citing India’s example he said, “India has committed $2.5 trillion in investment towards climate funding between 2015 and 2030 – that’s huge,” he said, adding that “We (developing nations like India) are prepared to drive down the highway towards zero emissions, and we are absolutely with you (the developed world), but we will do it at our speed. You cannot tell us the speed with which changes need to be made or tell us that these are the restricted number of pitstops on the way. We will surely reach there, but we need the flexibility and support.” If this is done, then it will bring down the “trust deficit” cinsiderably.

Giving a perspective from the developed nations, British High Commissioner to India Lindy Cameron said “Our foreign secretary had said recently that he had heard that developing countries believed the system didn’t work for them. I understand that it is important we recognize that, but what we must recognize is that we all live on the same planet, and one must recognize that we in the UK have set ambitious targets like net-zero emissions by 2050.”

She also said that “After 6 months in India, I do believe that India is the place where this (climate action) is going to happen. This is the place as this is the country that matters most for the future of the planet and for climate change, because India’s ambition for development should not in any way be constrained by the responsibilities of the planet.”

She further said that “We are committed to reforms like making more affordable finance available for developing countries. And we are also working here in India on technology and research to ensure that we can support those incredibly ambitious goals India has set.”

The fourth panelist, Erik Solheim, Former Minister of Climate and the Environment of Norway, lauded China and India for their tremendous achievement in terms of climate action targets. Speaking at the NDTV World Summit he said, “Nobody should blame India or the developing world, especially when nations like the US where per capita emissions are 25 times that of India. The state of Gujarat alone has set the target of 100 Gigawatt of clean energy by 2030. This is enormous. It is as big as 20 times the entire energy grid of Nigeria – the biggest nation in Africa.”

He further said that “Forget all of India and what all the rest of the country is doing, but if you see just the state of Gujarat…if it were a nation, it would be the 8th largest in terms of green energy.”

He also had big praise for China, saying “China accounts for 60% of all green energy today and the rest of the world is the other 40%. India is second only to China.”

He also lauded Indonesia which he said has “brought deforestation down to zero, and made it the biggest rain forest nation in the world”.

“If ten years ago someone asked me where one needs to go to see climate progress, I would have said please go to Brussels or Berlin or Geneva or Paris, but today I would say go see what a Beijing, Delhi or Jakarta are doing,” he concluded.