Virtually sounding the bugle for COP27 later this year, India on Wednesday noted that some countries declined to enhance NDCs after the COP26 and termed it a serious thing about the future of the COPs.
COP26 was held at the UK’s Glasgow in 2021 while the COP27 is to be held later this year at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. The COP, i.e. the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) is where countries meet annually to negotiate climate actions and climate finance.
“India is among the few countries among the G20 that has fulfilled its NDCs, has achieved its targets. But even the mitigation measures and Net Zero promises and NDCs made by the developed countries… We know that after COP, some countries said there is no need to enhance the NDCs. This is a serious thing about the future of the COP,” Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said at the Raisina Dialogues 2022 here.
NDCs, the nationally determined contributions, are the climate actions that each country has promised to take as part of the collective efforts to restrict carbon emissions in order to keep the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial era. Yadav was referring to the promises made by rich countries as part of the COP negotiations and how their actions have not been up to the mark.
Earlier he had pointed out: “It was the pledge of the developed countries at Copenhagen that they would provide $100 billion to the developing countries. But they are not able to fulfill their own promise. Also, for the world to come together in fighting climate change, technology transfer is necessary. But even that is not coming through in a way expected.”
“It requires $1 trillion in this age, $100 billion dollars is not sufficient,” he said.
Yadav also said, it was the demand of the developing countries to define what exactly comprises climate finance and the developed world ultimately agreed to form a committee to work on the exact meaning of climate finance – loan, subsidy, private finance, which one?
“Second is about the major demand of developing countries is adaptation. We know adaptation money is only 25 per cent (of the total finance) and developing countries need more money for adaptation,” he said.
“India is part of the solution and not part of the problem (of climate change),” he said and reminded the audience of the five major announcements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 last year regarding reaching the Net Zero by 2070. He also listed out India’s achievements since the Paris Agreement of 2015. “Resolute domestic mitigation actions are underway already,” he said.
In reply to a question from amongst the audience, Yadav asserted India’s right to development and reiterated its position on phasing down coal rather than phasing it out.
