Obama calls up Modi over Paris climate agreement

US President Barak Obama on Tuesday called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the Paris climate treaty, a day after four emerging economies, including India, took a tough stand against the pressure exerted by rich nations at the negotiation table.

The late-night call from the White House came a day after the BASIC nations—comprising Brazil, South Africa, India and China—reminded the industrialised countries about the principle of common but differentiated responsibility enshrined in a UN convention and the $100 billion annual commitment to clean up the world.

“Both leaders underscored their strong commitment to address issues related to climate change being discussed in the Paris conference through constructive engagement, without impeding the progress of developing countries,” said an official statement.

Modi is the second BASIC leader with whom Obama had a telephonic conversation. A day before, he spoke to his Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff.  Meanwhile in Paris, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar met US Secretary of State John Kerry in an effort to bridge the widening gap between the rich and developing nations.

The BASIC group sternly pointed out to the developed world that not only they faltered on the $100 billion commitment but most of them also did not ratify the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol to extend the Kyoto commitment period up to 2020. Only 57 nations have ratified the Doha Amendment–against the requirement of 144 nations—taking it nowhere close to its realisation  Most of the industrialised countries also failed to meet their Kyoto targets.

The US is not a part of the protocol. “Enhanced actions by developed countries before 2020, including ratification of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol on the second commitment period is needed to build trust amongst parties,” said a BASIC statement.

The BASIC countries also asked the rich nations to progressively and substantially scale up their support in the post-2020 period, with $100 billion per year as a starting point to fulfil their obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as promised in Copenhagen in 2009.

“The Paris agreement is being formulated under the convention (UNFCCC) and as such must be in full accordance with its principles and provision, particularly the principles of equity,” it added.