Developing countries and climate change

This paper is a discussion of the policies of developing countries in the negotiations on climate change. To most developing countries, this is not considered a major issue (except for OASIS countries) but it was used as an instrument for leveraging their claims for a better distribution of wealth among nations and an increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA). The adoption of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and others is taking place in developing countries and one of the "flexibility mechanisms" created by the Kyoto Protocol could accelerate this process. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in particular gave hope for an increase in resources and clean technologies available to developing countries and has therefore encouraged a greater participation in the process. Although not subjected to caps in their emissions by the Kyoto Protocol, developing countries are achieving reductions in CO2 emissions that are greater than OECD countries as a percentage of their emissions.