Funding and flexibility on minds of delegates

The countries that make up the BASIC bloc said they are confident of a positive result and vowed to exercise flexibility to help finalize the Paris climate change agreement.

They made the comment in a news conference on Wednesday in Katowice, Poland, where the 24th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP24, is being held. Opened on Dec 2, the conference is scheduled to close on Friday.

Senior officials of the four countries - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - also said, however, the flexibility will be only exercised under the principal of equity and for the common good, as included in Paris agreement.

"We have to adhere to basic principals of the Paris agreement and implement the spirit of the agreement comprehensively and precisely," said Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative on climate change affairs.

"We BASIC countries are all confident that COP24 will be a success. Only a successful COP24 could prove that the multilateral mechanism works. We adhere to multilateralism, so we believe there will be a positive result."

Financial support from developed countries is another area of concern, Xie said.

"Only with sustainable and sufficient funding can developing countries upgrade their capability in tackling climate change and then increase the transparency in climate change mitigation and adaptation," he said.

He added that such funding is a key foundation in the fight against climate change, especially for developing countries.

"BASIC is willing to exercise necessary flexibility. ... We must also ensure that we do not backslide on the balance that we have reached in the Paris agreement," said A.K. Mehta, India's Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Derek Hanekom, head of the South African delegation and tourism minister, echoed those words.

"We are in complete agreement that there should be no backsliding on the Paris agreement," he said.

Financial commitments from developed countries, as agreed in the Paris accord, have yet to be fully met.

"It's quite clear the evidence shows that not only do we need reliability in the available finance to support some of the initiatives, but that the amount allocated is hopelessly inadequate. So more finances will be needed, and it has to be reliable so that countries can depend on it," Hanekom said.

He also said the conference should be a demonstration that multilateralism not only can work but must be adhered to.