1. The 17th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change was held in Hangzhou, China, on 28 and 29 October 2013. H.E. Mr Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, H.E. Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho, Under Secretary-General for the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology of the Ministry of External Relations of Brazil, Mr Ravi Shanker Prasad, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Environment and Forests of India, and Mr Maesela Kekana, Chief Director in charge of International Climate Change Negotiation and Relations of Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa attended the meeting. H.E. Mr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore also attended the meeting as an observer in line with the “BASIC-plus” approach.
2. Ministers emphasised that the Warsaw Conference should be an implementation COP, and that the effective implementation of the Bali, Cancun, Durban and Doha outcomes will be paramount for trust building amongst Parties in order to create the necessary conditions and an international enabling environment for a successful conclusion of the work on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action.
3. Ministers stressed that finance is key to the success of the Warsaw Conference. They urged developed countries to honour their obligations to provide new, additional and adequate financial support to developing countries in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner, with firm and secured commitments of funding for the period from 2013 to 2020 and a clear roadmap to reach the goal of providing US $100 billion per year by 2020. Ministers reiterated that public financial resources should be the main source of such funding while financing from the private sector could only be supplementary.
4. Ministers further called for the full operationalisation of and close coordination between institutions established in the Bali process, including the Green Climate Fund, the Standing Committee on Finance, the Technology Executive Committee, the Climate Technology Center & Network, and the Adaptation Committee. They reiterated that the work of the GCF should be under the authority of, guided by and accountable to the COP. They emphasised that enhanced ambition by Annex I countries should not be contingent upon adoption or recognition of any market-based approaches. They also emphasised that discussions on the new market mechanism will be meaningless unless mitigation targets by developed countries are significantly increased to an ambitious level.
5. Ministers reiterated that the Durban Platform process is to further enhance the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention. The work of ADP shall be under the Convention and guided by its principles, in particular the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. The ADP process is by no means to renegotiate, rewrite, restructure, or reinterpret the Convention or its principles, provisions and Annexes.
6. Ministers emphasised that the Convention itself has provided the structure and design of the 2015 agreement, which defines the differentiation between developed and developing countries. The 2015 agreement shall adhere to the principles, provisions and structure of the Convention, in particular the provisions of Articles 4 and 12 as well as the Annexes, which fully reflect the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities.
7. Ministers reiterated that the 2015 agreement should address all elements referred to in paragraph 5 of Decision 1/CP.17 in a balanced and comprehensive manner, and should not just be confined to mitigation. Ministers stressed that the negotiation on the 2015 agreement should focus on enhanced actions that need to be undertaken for the implementation of the Convention from 2020 in full accordance with the principles and provisions of the Convention. Ministers called for a more balanced, structured and formal mode of work focusing on the four pillars of the Convention, i.e. mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology.
8. Ministers emphasised that developed countries should take the lead in combating climate change in accordance with their historical responsibilities and what is required by science, by undertaking ambitious quantified economy-wide emission reduction targets and fulfilling commitments of providing finance and technology support to developing countries. Ministers further highlighted the importance and relevance of Article 4.7 of the Convention.
9. Ministers noted that it is important for the Warsaw Conference to encourage and support Parties to engage in domestic consultations and preparations in the context of ADP negotiations. They further called on developed countries to do their homework particularly on their provision of finance, technology and capacity building support to developing countries in addition to their mitigation commitments.
10. Ministers reiterated that the pre-2020 ambition must be addressed in a comprehensive manner primarily through the implementation of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and the agreed outcome of the Bali Action Plan. Ministers noted with concern that pre-2020 ambition gaps exist not only in mitigation, but also in adaptation, finance, technology and capacity building as well as in equitable access to sustainable development. They reiterated that the contribution of developing countries to mitigation efforts is far greater than that of developed countries, and noted that the pre-2020 mitigation gap would not even have existed if the developed countries had committed to an emission reduction of 40% below their 1990 levels by 2020. They urged developed country parties to immediately undertake early enhanced mitigation actions and to provide financial resources to support mitigation and adaptation actions that have been put forward by developing countries.
11. Ministers underlined that the Kyoto Protocol remains the essential basis for mitigation ambition. They emphasised the importance of ratifying by all Parties as early as possible the Doha Amendment regarding the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. They further urged developed country parties participating in the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol to revisit and significantly increase their emission reduction targets in 2014, and urged developed countries that are not part of the second commitment period to raise the ambition of their comparable commitments under the Convention within the same timeframe.
Ministers called for the Warsaw Conference to make necessary arrangements for effective implementation of the 2014 Revisit in order to increase the quantified emission reduction commitments of developed countries for the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
12. Ministers reaffirmed that HFCs are greenhouse gases covered under the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and shall be addressed through all relevant multilateral fora in accordance with the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol, taking into account the availability of safe and technically and economically viable alternatives. Ministers emphasised that it is essential that developed countries provide new and additional financial resources to support developing countries to address the HFCs issue.
13. Ministers welcomed the Resolution of the ICAO adopted at its 38th Assembly that the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and mutual agreement should underpin the work of designing and implementing the market-based measures for emissions from international civil aviation. They reiterated their strong objection to any unilateral measures regarding emissions from international civil aviation.
14. Ministers reiterated that the 2013-2015 Review must adhere to the principles of the Convention and proceed in a comprehensive and balanced manner. Ministers considered it crucial to maintain the balance between the work on adequacy of the long-term global goal and the overall progress made towards meeting the goal, including the implementation of the commitments under the Convention.
15. Ministers welcomed the Brazilian submission on the Development of a reference methodology on historical responsibilities by the IPCC to guide domestic consultations for the ADP 2015 agreement, as a useful contribution to discussions on an equity-based approach.
16. Ministers expressed their appreciation for the work done by the BASIC experts on equity and the analysis of the pre-2020 pledges of developed countries, and encouraged experts to continue the work next year.
17. Ministers reiterated that the BASIC countries, as part of the Group of 77 and China, will continue to strengthen the unity and the voice of developing countries in the UNFCCC and other multilateral negotiating processes on climate change. They reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cohesion and solidarity within the Group of 77 and China, taking into account the special needs of the African Countries, the Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and other developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.
18. Ministers welcomed the offer by India to host the 18th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change.
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