Bali climate change pact: The roadmap ahead

THE BALI ACCORD: 190 countries agreed to be part of the Bali roadmap to combat climate change.

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New Delhi: The delegates at the UN convention on climate change in Bali have agreed to a deal after days of bitter wrangling.

The deal, which was clinched at the end of the conference, ensures that India does not have to meet binding targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Commenting on the summit, Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said, “We see a roadmap in which the Western world is willing to take forward its commitment. We also see a united world moving beyond Bali and that I think is the victory of the conference.”

A 190 countries agreed to be part of the Bali roadmap to combat climate change, which crucially, did not mention binding emission targets for developed countries, but set a global aim for deep cuts in emissions.

Partly satisfied with the roadmap, Nobel laureate and IPCC Chairperson RK Pachauri said, “It’s a positive step as I had not anticipated that there would be clear cut agreement on percentage reduction in emissions but a commitment towards it.”

But environmental activists like Director for Centre for Science and Environment Sunita Narain are criticising the Indian government for not taking a strong stand.

“We saw this at Rio, we have seen the same at Bali. We had no clear strategy. We were on the defensive but we should have been on the offensive. We should have had a clear plan when we went to Bali,” Narain said.

Negotiators have agreed to start two years of talks on a new climate deal, which is to be adopted in Copenhagen in late 2009. And while India may have been lucky, environment groups around the world say the lack of specific emission targets for countries means that the ultimate loser is once again – the planet.

(With inputs from Bahar Dutt and Marya Shakil)