The 18th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change brought together representatives from Brazil, India, South Africa and China (BASIC), who adopted a joint statement emphasizing the need to finalize the elements of a draft negotiating text for the 2015 agreement at the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UNFCCC, to be held in Lima, Peru, in December 2014.
8 August 2014: The 18th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change brought together representatives from Brazil, India, South Africa and China (BASIC), who adopted a joint statement emphasizing the need to finalize the elements of a draft negotiating text for the 2015 agreement at the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UNFCCC, to be held in Lima, Peru, in December 2014.
In the statement, ministers stress that: the six core elements for the 2015 outcome should be mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, transparency of action and support, and capacity building; the process and outcome must be in accordance with all the Convention principles, in particular the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RP); developed countries should take the lead in addressing climate change in accordance with their historical responsibilities; all parties should communicate their intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) as early as possible; and INDCs must include mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity building.
BASIC ministers also highlight that developing country INDCs must be in the context of social and development needs, and based on the extent of financial, technological and capacity-building support provided by developed countries. They emphasize that the information provided in the context of INDCs would need to be differentiated between developed and developing countries, and is intended to improve the clarity, transparency and understanding of INDCs.
BASIC countries reiterate that the Kyoto Protocol remains the essential basis for addressing pre-2020 mitigation ambition, call for speedy ratification of its second commitment period, and express “serious concern” regarding the low level of mitigation ambition of developed countries. In the statement, ministers lament that pre-2020 ambition gaps exist not only in mitigation, but also in adaptation and finance, technology and capacity-building support to developing countries. They therefore call on developed countries to increase their support to developing countries in this regard.
Ministers also call for immediate and substantial capitalization of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and that part of the funds be used to secure intellectual property rights (IPRs) of climate-friendly technologies for developing countries. They express disappointment over the lack of a clear roadmap for providing US$100 billion per year by developed countries by 2020, and reiterate that public finance should provide the primary source of climate finance, while private finance should only be supplementary.
Finally, ministers reaffirm the importance of multilateralism in addressing climate change and strongly oppose unilateral measures, including in aviation or shipping. The 19th BASIC Ministerial Meeting took place from 7-8 August 2014, in New Delhi, India. The 19th BASIC Ministerial Meeting will be held in South Africa during the third week of October 2014. [Joint Statement of the 18th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change][Climate Change Policy & Practice coverage of BASIC]