There are different realities that developing and developed countries hold and sometimes conflict with national interests, needs and approaches. This lead to diverging positions at the international negotiation tables. More often, the mutual understanding of these positions is lacking, but it is a precondition for fair negotiations. With the examples of India and Germany CANSA and Germanwatch seek to create a better understanding among civil society experts and beyond of these two countries’ position building and their negotiation preparations before the decisive COP21Paris. The joint project is supported by the German Federal Environment Ministry.

The IT-Boom, cultural diversity and spirituality versus car industries, over-organised prosperity and efficiency. It is hard to compare India and Germany as the differences are striking. The densely populated Indian subcontinent with its development challenges despite the growing economy has very unlike preconditions for climate policy than the industrialised EU member, Germany. Development and economic status, adaptation needs, mitigation capabilities, scientific research, technological resources, human capacity, governance structures, moral obligations and many other forces and ingredients for climate policy differ immensely and deserve a closer look.

These differences resulted in the last night of COP17 in Durban 2011 in a heated discussion between the equity champion India and the EU demanding a decision on the legal form of the new agreement to be signed in Paris. Further differences between India’s positions and the EU / Germany emerge as the Paris COP approaches. CANSA and Germanwatch will analyse positions on topics like equity, MRV and legal form, WS2 and low-carbon development. We will host workshops to discuss these topics with interested NGO colleagues at the upcoming UNFCCC meetings. Please contact Sanjay Vashist or Rixa Schwarz in case of interest.