ABSTRACT

India played a crucial role at the first Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Berlin, in the spring of 1995. At stake was a decision on a mandate to negotiate a Protocol to the UNFCCC, strengthening the provisions of the Convention that entered into force the year before. Negotiations were very contentious, with the group of oil exporting developing countries (OPEC) firmly resisting any decision that would lead to stronger action to limit CO2 emissions. Indian Ambassador TP Sreenivasan personally took charge of the so called ‘Green Group’, a breakaway group of the G77 and China. By leaving out the group of OPEC countries it was possible to form a strong alliance with the European Union to support a decision on the (Berlin) mandate and to have this approved by the Conference (Mwandosya , 2000). The decision ultimately led to the birth of the Kyoto Protocol, agreed at the third COP in Kyoto in 1997. This was India at its best as an international power broker.