CAN Intervention in the COP19 ADP Opening Plenary by Uthra Radhakrishnan, 11 November, 2013

Thank you Co-Chairs,

My name is Uthra Radhakrishnan, and I’m speaking for Climate Action Network.

As communities around the world get swept under the climate disaster rug, we have little time left. This means getting ambitious about ambition.

In CAN’s opinion, the key to ambition is equity, and not equity as vague words like “fairness” that can mean anything or nothing.  Equity must mean an agreed list of indicators that are based upon the Convention. This list must include indicators for Adequacy, Responsibility, Capacity, Development Need and Adaption Need – which all Parties know, prior to tabling their pledges, which be used to evaluate those pledges. 

Let us not mince words.  As we all know the Philippines is the latest to feel the brutal reality of climate disruption.  The point of the equity indicators approach is to identify the front runners that are actually proposing to do their fair share, and the free riders that are proposing to waste even more time.

Here in Warsaw, Parties will be discussing the timeline and process by which pledges can be made and reviewed and strengthened as necessary. CAN is calling for a process to include the development of a common set of equity principles and indicators.

Let us be clear, the pledges must include finance as well as mitigation. And given that they must be made next year, we need equity indicators to be discussed here and now.