COP27: At Summit, India To Focus On Climate Finance, Clarity On Definition

Minister of Environment Bhupender Yadav will lead India’s delegation to COP27.(File)

New Delhi:

Ahead of the annual climate mitigation summit, India said it looks forward to substantial progress on the discussions related to climate finance, particularly for developing countries, and clarity on its definition.

Climate finance typically refers to any financing that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.

The annual climate mitigation summit is scheduled to be held at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt during November 6-18, 2022.

“As it is a saying that “what gets measured gets done”, more clarity is needed on the definition of climate finance for the developing countries to be able to accurately assess the extent of finance flows for climate action. While the Standing Committee on Finance will submit a report on the various definitions, we hope to have good deliberations on this to arrive at a common understanding,” a statement put out by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said on Friday.

The interpretation of the term, the statement said, must be in line with the commitments made by the countries on climate finance in the Convention and its Paris Agreement.

India said the goal of USD 100 billion per year of climate finance by 2020 and every year thereafter through 2025 is yet to be achieved.

“Due to lack of common understanding, several estimates of what has flown as climate finance are available. While the promised amount must be reached as quickly as possible, there is a need now to substantially enhance the ambition to ensure adequate resource flow under the new quantified goal post-2024,” the statement from the ministry said.

Reaching the USD 100 billion per year goal must come first, and the developed countries must be asked to show the roadmap for the same, it said.

Further, about the Egyptian Presidency of COP27, which is also a member of the Like Minded Developing Countries, the statement said the country has rightfully named COP27 as the COP of “Implementation”.

“India welcomes this step as over the last twelve months the world has seen the widening gap between the statements by developed countries at COP 26 in Glasgow and the reality of their actions.”

India is ready to support the Egyptian Presidency, with a plan of action that answers the needs of developing countries. Adaptation and loss and damage are two issues at the centre of attention, and progress on these two issues will complement each other.

Meanwhile, India’s Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav will lead the country’s delegation to the 27th Session of the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27).

The statement from the ministry added India is fully engaged with the process and is supportive of the efforts by the government of Egypt for substantive outcomes at COP27.

What did India announce at COP26 held in 2021?

At the COP26 summit in Glasgow in late 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi committed to an ambitious five-part “Panchamrit” pledge, including reaching 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity, to generate half of all energy requirements from renewables, to reduce emissions by 1 billion tons by 2030.

India also aims to reduce the emissions intensity of GDP by 45 per cent. Finally, India commits to net-zero emissions by 2070.

Walking the talk, India has gone ahead and banned the use of several single-use plastics starting July 2022.

The adverse impacts of littered single-use plastic items plastic on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including in marine environments are globally recognized. Addressing pollution due to single-use plastic items has become an important environmental challenge confronting all countries.

India is expected to raise matters and argue matters related to climate finance for the developing world where per capita emissions are comparatively quite low against the developed world in order to address carbon mitigation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)