"After the first glace of the final text, we are happy that the text contains and take care of concerns of Ind... Read More

PARIS: Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar has welcomed as "balanced" the final draft of the agreement that emerged after close to two weeks of deliberations at the Conference of Parties 21 ( COP21 ) climate change meet in Paris. Javadekar said the draft version of the deal addresses the concerns that India had expressed. India had been singled out for criticism for its stance that developed countries with a history of higher pollution make deeper emission cuts than developing and relatively non-polluting countries.

Javadekar termed the draft deal an "important achievement" for India, noting that India's push for "sustainable lifestyles and climate justice" have found mention in the 31-page final draft of the agreement.

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"After the first glace of the final text, we are happy that the text contains and take care of concerns of India. It is linked with the convention (United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) while Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) is imbibed in it," said Javadekar, after the draft was unveiled.

"More importantly, differentiation for developed and developing countries are mentioned across all pillars of action - mitigation, adaption, finance, technology capacity and transparency. That is a very important thing," Javadekar added.

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The climate change conference produced an ambitious final draft of a deal that proposes limiting global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius, and committing $100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries in coping with the problem. India has pushed for the concept of 'differentiation' to be clearly spelt out in all elements of the agreement, and has been taking the position that developed countries must have a greater responsibility to accept emission reduction targets while they must be the only ones to mandatorily provide financial resources.

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Javadekar said India has been stressing on two important concepts - climate justice and sustainable lifestyles - over the past year. India's stance had come in from criticism in a some of the countries that would be expected to make larger emission cuts than less-developed nations. The New York Times had even published a cartoon that portrayed India as the sole obstruction for a climate deal.

Soon after the draft was unveiled by French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, the president of the conference, UN secretary geneal Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders to see the agreement through. "The end is in sight. Let us finish the job. The whole world is watching," said Ban.

(With inputs from PTI)