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COP29: India calls for “mutual trust” at key stage in Baku negotiations
India’s statement comes at a crucial time in the negotiations when there is an erosion of trust with developing countries seeking an ambitious NCQG
India on Monday laid down its expectations on climate action for the next six years during the annual high-level ministerial round table on pre-2030 ambition. Among key expectations, is “mutual trust” among parties.
“This trust is dependent on access to enhanced financial resources, technology transfer, capacity-building, and availability of market- based mechanisms”, India said in its statement.
The 2024 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) synthesis report does not pose a gloomy picture altogether, Leena Nandan, secretary, ministry of environment, forests and climate change and deputy leader of India delegation said.
She added that 195 parties have submitted their NDCs with 180 having updated them.
“In 2030, total global GHG emissions are estimated to be around 2.6% lower than in 2019, indicating the possibility of global emissions peaking before 2030. It will be safe to assume that all parties have come together to achieve this important milestone in the fight against climate change,” she said.
With the next NDCs due next year, these figures can improve further. But, for peaking of emissions, the conditional elements of the NDCs need to be implemented, Nandan underlined.
“This depends mostly on access to enhanced financial resources, technology transfer and technical cooperation, and capacity-building support; and availability of market- based mechanisms. We are in this crucial COP on FINANCE. It is an opportunity for the Developed countries to ensure the success of this CoP and foster TRUST to realise important milestones in climate ambitions by 2030,” Nandan said.
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India’s statement comes at a crucial time in the negotiations when there is an erosion of trust with developing countries seeking an ambitious New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) and developed nations pushing for countries to take on ambitious economywide mitigation targets to achieve Paris Agreement goals of keeping global warming well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
Carbon budget has depleted
“According to the 2024 NDC Synthesis report, the cumulative CO2 emissions in the period 2020 to 2030 are likely to use up 86% of the remaining carbon budget. Therefore, our discussions and deliberations are happening at a crucial time to act decisively,” said Leena adding that the pre-2030 period is an opportunity.
She added that the ambitious climate action will hinge on two main issues.
“This ambitious action-oriented approach hinges on bold actions from those parties who are obligated to take the lead in economy-wide emission reductions,” she said.
These include developed countries achieving net-zero emissions and ensuring that developing nations are not burdened with the failures of mitigation actions of pre-2020 regime, and that climate solutions are both effective and just.
“There is need for scaling up innovative actions through barrier and restrictions free technology transfer. New technologies and solutions are needed to drive the transition to a low-carbon economy. However, innovation in areas like clean energy, carbon removal etc is still in early stages and there are barriers to scaling and transfer to the developing nations,” she said emphasising the need for removing intellectual property rights barriers for technology transfer.
The second issue she flagged was climate finance (flowing from developed to developing countries as mandated in Paris Agreement) which is central for enabling and implementing climate actions.
