Following the Copenhagen Accord: BASIC Countries Will Meet Jan 31st Deadline for Submissions

The four BASIC countries, India, China, South Africa and Brazil, met in New Delhi on Sunday, January 24th and announced that they intend to submit their “voluntary mitigation actions” to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat by January 31st, the deadline set in the Copenhagen Accord.

The meeting and joint statement ended speculation particularly in the Indian press about whether the four countries would continue to support the Accord, despite some concerns they had expressed about its unusual legal status (for a full discussion of the legal issues read WRI colleague Jacob Werksman’s column on the meaning of “taking note” of the Accord). The New Dehli meeting also reaffirmed the BASIC countries’ commitment to the UNFCCC process and their desire for a binding treaty next year in Mexico. The BASIC countries called on the UNFCCC to begin this year’s meetings in March and to work intensively to reach agreement. They also called on other countries to meet their financing commitments, including a pledged $10 billion in 2010. Download the full text of the Joint Statement, issued at the conclusion of the meeting of the BASIC group ministers in New Dehli, from the ChinaFAQs.org Library & Data section.