Sharp fault lines have appeared, not just within the governments of the developed and the developing world but also between multinational companies and governments, as the first week of Conference of Parties (COP21), also known as Paris climate talks, came to an end on Friday 4 December, 2015.
It is a significant development that there is a broad agreement on basic goals to save the planet. However, geopolitical interests seem to be dominating the discourse even within the “we mean business” coalition. It must be noted that the first week of these negotiations saw some of the largest multinationals and votaries of socially responsible investing being mobilised as a single bloc pressure group.
On Friday, the Coalition, whose members represent $19.5 trillion of assets under management, issued a wishlist for the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
This wishlist, a no-brainer, is:
- Net zero greenhouse gas emissions well before the end of the century
- Strengthen commitments every five years
- Enact meaningful carbon pricing
- New and additional climate finance at scale
- Transparency and accountability to promote a race to the top
- National commitments at the highest end of ambition
- Adaptation to build climate-resilient economies and communities
In addition, the Coalition urged governments to establish a level playing field for businesses worldwide. This, they argue, will accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
So, where’s the catch?
The Coalition’s perspective is, perhaps inevitably, more aligned with positions of the developed world. Its reports take a clearly sympathetic view of developed nations’ failure to fulfill their promises on climate funding – depicting it as the constraints of recession hit economies.
Without explicitly mentioning developing nations, the Coalition’s statement at the end of the first week of the Paris Summit comes down hard on — “Some countries seem intent on rejecting reasonable proposals because they fear that this will involve committing to a burden of action that will undermine their economies. Those countries need to be reassured that if they sign a Paris agreement and honour the spirit of bold collective action by all, their legitimate right to develop will be honoured.”
These lofty promises are being made on behalf of 479 global companies and investors nationals — such as Unilever, Ikea, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Nike, Starbucks, HP, Aditya Birla Chemicals, Dalmia Cement, Hindustan Construction Company, and Infosys, among others.
Its partners include business-cum-civil society entities such as World Business Council for Sustainable Development, The B Team, Carbon Disclosure Project and United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing. TERI is the only Indian civil society entity among the network partners.
In the week that follows, and beyond Paris, the credibility and effectiveness of this Coalition will depend on whether it is seen to be fair in terms of accepting the between developed and developing nations.
Rajni Bakshi is Gandhi Peace Fellow, Gateway House.
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