Germany wants binding and verifiable rules on climate change

As 55 nations submitted to UN their planned mitigation actions to tackle global warming, Germany today made a strong pitch for "binding and verifiable rules" for everyone on climate protection.

"Climate protection can only work if -- as in the case of cricket -- there are binding and verifiable rules for everyone which are accepted by all as fair and just," German president Horst Koehler said at a business meeting here.

He lauded India's national action plan to tackle climate change as "far-sighted" and said that there was a need to focus on the question of "global per-capita emissions" as has been argued at international fora by Germany and India.
   
"Concentrating on this (global per-capita emissions) will provide a standard for fairness in the long term," said Koehler, who is on a week-long visit here.

He termed the outcome of the Copenhagen climate talks as "disappointing" but pointed out that the meeting showed that "although we agree that we want to limit global warming to two degrees, there are still huge differences of opinion on how we can achieve this target".

"The disappointing outcome of the Copenhagen Conference shows that the international community still has far to go if it wants to effectively protect the one world we share," Koehler said.

While noting that India has taken a number of steps for climate change mitigation despite having a very low per capita emission, Koehler said working towards a green economy will also make Indian enterprises more competitive.

"At around one tonne per inhabitant, India's greenhouse emissions are still far below those of the industrialised nations," he noted.

Koehler said the increasing dense mesh of links among communities, NGOs and companies can also play a key part in winning the fight against global warming.

By the January 31 UN deadline, 55 countries, including India, submitted their pledges for cutting their share of greenhouse gases, a development welcomed by the world body as an "important invigoration" to the Copenhagen talks.

The EU, which includes Germany, has pledged to a 30 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions.