Cracks appear in G-77 bloc on Day One of Copenhagen Summit

The opening day of the meeting of 193 countries on climate change at Copenhagen was meant to be an occasion for reinforcing political rhetoric and niceties. But even before the meeting began, dark news of cracks within the biggest bloc of developing countries G-77 plus China started showing up.

The G-77+China spokesperson told the gathered negotiators that the developing countries were not at all happy with the ``common but differentiated responsibilities principle'' being discarded. It is also learnt that some member countries of the developing country bloc, in internal parleys, have demanded that emerging economies also undertake some form of commitments and get their actions scrutinised.

The four BASIC countries -- Brazil, South Africa, India and China -- had on Sunday shared their draft with the G-77 bloc hoping to get their buy-in and finally table it before all the countries officially. If the G-77 is able to come out with a single draft with the inputs of all members, it would put tremendous pressure on developed countries in the second half of the week when political-level talks begin. But if AOSIS and other smaller groups put separate texts on the table, G-77's bargaining position would be weakened, explained sources.

Should the developing countries go against the developed countries in the emission cut?