The new divide: China and India diverge on approaches to climate change

The Chinese idiom “the teeth are cold when the lips are gone” was once a perfect description of the strong partnership between China and India in previous international climate negotiations.

The world’s two most populous developing nations once stood together to defend their rights to emit carbon, arguing the onus for cuts should fall on industrialised countries who bear historical responsibilities for putting heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

In Paris, as more than 190 countries negotiate a post-2020 deal to curb emissions and limit global temperature rise, the coalition between China and India is getting weaker.

READ MORE: Paris climate summit: developed countries should take lead in tackling global warming, says China’s president

But China will need to coordinate more closely with India if it wants to secure the type of climate deal that President Xi Jinping has personally pursued, observers and some Chinese negotiators said.

Xi’s joint climate agreements signed with his US and French counterparts in the run-up to the summit already outlined China’s vision for a Paris agreement: an inclusive deal that engages all countries to submit their emission-reduction plans.

As such self-imposed targets may mean weaker commitments, reviews every five years will be necessary to ratchet up efforts in future, while greater transparency in the reviews will ensure better implementation.

To have these key elements included in the final deal, China will need the support of its great southern neighbour, a country that still prioritises growth powered heavily by fossil fuels, experts said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told world leaders on first day of the negotiations that a division between developed and developing countries “must remain the bedrock” of global efforts to tackle global warming, as his country still has more than 300 million people without access to electricity.