Why a Strong Environment Minister is Important in Implementing the Climate Agenda - Part One: The Road to Paris

In the more than two decades that I served in the Malaysian government, I have been very privileged to have served under the guidance of environment ministers who not only kept the interests and priorities of the country foremost in their minds, but also understood the broader implications of global equity, the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR), and the importance of developing country coalitions and consensus building. I was also extremely fortunate to have benefitted from their willingness to share their wisdom and experience, as well as their commitment to individual development and empowerment and a team-oriented approach.

In 2009, a year before I was seconded to the ministry, I had the good fortune of being led by YB Douglas Uggah Embas during the ill-fated 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Although at first unfamiliar with the Convention protocols, YB was able to quickly adapt to the shifting landscape, constantly reshaped by an inexperienced Danish presidency. In particular, in the chaotic closing hours of the COP, as the Presidency and developed countries attempted to coerce the developing countries into accepting what would have been a patently unjust share of the global mitigation burden, YB Douglas demonstrated fortitude and insight in ensuring that Malaysia maintained support of the core positions of the Group of 77 and China (G77 and China), the coalition comprising virtually all the developing countries in the world. Even when the developed countries succeeded in dividing the G77 and China with a pledge to ‘mobilize’ USD30 billion annually until 2020, ramping up to USD100 billion annually after 2020,  leading some developing country Ministers and even Presidents, misled by the apparent magnitude of the pledge, to accept the deal, YB Douglas was able to appreciate the dire implications of the proposal to the developing world, and make the difficult decision to reject the offer. But in doing so, most importantly, he held the developed countries to their actual obligations under the Convention - to ‘provide’ developing countries with the means of implementation (MOI) of the Convention.

YB Palanivel took office in 2013 during the critical build-up in the negotiations toward the Paris COP in 2015. As Parties negotiated the key elements of what would later become the Paris Agreement, Malaysia, at the request of developing country Parties, and with the approval and support of the Hon. Minister, had accepted dual roles as  Lead Coordinator for the G-77 & China, and as Spokesperson for the Like-Minded Developing Countries on Climate Change (LMDC). Developing country engagement was of extreme importance, as  economically diverse developing country Parties wrestled with the prospect of communicating Emissions Reductions Targets on a level playing field with developed countries, initially, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions or INDCs, and later, the Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs. 

In this regard, Malaysia’s role as a consensus builder became vitally important. Developing country Parties needed, on the one hand, to ensure that the nationally determined nature of their respective National Contributions to Emissions Reductions and Adaptation Measures would not be restricted or undermined, while at the same time securing the unwavering support of the most vulnerable among their ranks, including the Least Developed Countries, the Small Island Developing States, the Vulnerable 20 Group and the Climate Vulnerable Forum, as well as the support of Developing Country Parties demanding a sharp increase in climate ambition, such as the High Ambition Coalition. And they needed to accomplish this while upholding and reinforcing Developed Country Parties’ Commitments under the Convention to continue to provide Finance, Technology Transfer and Capacity Building - a genuine reflection of CBDR.

The unity of the G-77 and China would be harshly tested the following year in Lima, Peru, when the developed countries, in the name of transparency and comparability, would champion common tabular reporting formats that would have essentially curtailed national determination of what and how to report. Such an outcome would have locked the developing country Parties into an expensive and onerous legally binding reporting framework and would effectively have prejudged the outcome of the negotiations in Paris, scheduled for the following year. But because the G77 and China were able to work through differences and achieve consensus, by the end of the COP in Lima, the level of unity and solidarity among the developing country Parties was palpable, and the nationally determined nature of the INDCs and NDCs would be assured going into Paris.

YB Wan Junaidi was appointed Natural Resources and Environment minister in 2015, overseeing the culmination of the preceding years of work leading to the Paris Agreement. At this crucial juncture, once again, the ability of the key developing country coalition, the G-77 and China, to remain united throughout the two weeks of negotiations was crucial. At high-stakes COPs like Copenhagen and Paris, delegations and their individual delegates are under extreme pressure to deliver on their national and coalition mandates.  Coalition coordinators and spokespersons who frequently take the floor to articulate the views of their coalitions, because of their high visibility, can become targets for removal through foreign political pressure.

Just the preceding year, in Lima, Peru, at the height of the negotiations, the G77 and China lead finance coordinator, a highly respected and well known diplomat, unmatched for her knowledge and experienced in the history of the negotiations under the Convention, became a victim of just such diplomatic hardball, as foreign diplomatic pressure was put on her government to remove her from the national delegation. Fortunately, the chair of the G77 and China, Bolivia, immediately adopted and rebadged her under the Bolivian delegation, enabling her to continue her coordination of what are easily the most contentious issues for developing countries under the Convention, the provision of finance to developing countries to undertake mitigation and adaptation in the context of CBDR.

Likewise, the dual responsibilities entrusted to Malaysia as Lead Coordinator of the G77 and China and spokesperson of the the LMDC, respectively, now made Malaysia a target for similar pressure. As the negotiations neared the cutoff point ahead of the closing plenary meeting, calls were being made from developed country state capitals to the Prime Minister’s office in Putrajaya, demanding an explanation as to why, apparently, Malaysia was blocking the smooth progress of these critical   negotiations and stubbornly refusing to compromise on positions. Under this intense pressure from developed countries, YB Junaidi systematically and meticulously assessed the situation and advised the Hon. Prime Minster that Malaysia was, in fact, at the request of G77 and China coalition partners, accurately and effectively articulating the views and positions of the largest coalition of the Convention, a coalition Malaysia was a member of, the coalition of virtually all the developing countries of the world.

While the closing plenary of the Paris COP was marred by the, so-called, typo that was inexplicably not detected by the objecting Party, or the UNFCCC Secretariat, for many hours prior to the closing plenary, that held the world hostage over a demand that one instance of the word ‘shall’ be replaced by the word ‘should’ in the Paris Agreement text, undoubtedly, the most remarkable achievement of the entire Paris Agreement process was the collective patience, foresight and wisdom of the developing country Parties, led by their respective Ministers of Environment, to remain united, and, in the spirit of the Convention, advance the global consensus on climate action to protect the most vulnerable among their developing country partners.