Expect action on finance, tech transfer: Bhupender Yadav on COP27
India hopes the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt is a meeting of “action”, union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said.
India hopes the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt is a meeting of “action”, union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said on Thursday.
“We expect action on climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building,” Yadav said while adding that there have been enough promises by countries but not enough action.
The unofficial theme of COP27 is also “implementation”. The Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit will take place on November 7-8 when heads of state and governments are expected to speak on implementation of pledges they made in the past and in the Glasgow COP26 last year. Following the summit’s inauguration, roundtables will be held to focus on six key topics: Just Transitions, Food Security, Innovative Finance for Climate and Development, Investing in the Future of Energy, Water Security, and Climate Change and the Sustainability of Vulnerable Communities according to COP27 Presidency.
Also read: Failure of rich nations on delivering $100bn among issues on COP 27 agenda
Yadav said India’s overall approach at COP27 will be to emphasize on the lead it has taken in strong, ambitious and decisive climate actions, its calls for climate justice, and its focus on sustainable lifestyles through the Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) movement launched by PM Narendra Modi and UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres on October 20. The country will also look for collaborations in technology development in renewable energy and hard to abate sectors and emphasize that climate action can be further accelerated through enhanced climate finance, technology and capacity building support, he added.
The critical issues for India are climate finance; mitigation work programme; global goal on adaptation and loss and damage, the minister said. “We are very clear that we want a multilaterally agreed definition of climate finance. India doesn’t recognise loans to be climate finance because it pushes vulnerable countries further into indebtedness so the only focus is on concessional and climate specific grants. On climate finance, India expects progress towards the target of mobilisation of $ 100bn/year by developed nations . There should be a decision on a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) on climate finance for the post 2025 period. It needs to specify (i) quantity of long-term finance (in trillions), (ii) quality, (iii) scope, and also for ease of access to finance and with methods of tracking flows of such finance in a transparent manner,” Yadav said in a presentation.
“When the definition of climate finance has not been arrived at, how is anyone claiming that climate finance is flowing to developing nations? ,” asked Leena Nandan, secretary, MoEFCC during the briefing.
India’s updated Nationally Determined contribution (NDC) is a significant contribution towards global climate action, Yadav said. This was announced in August and has two broad quantifiable goals– to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030, from the 2005 level and to achieve about 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030. India will strongly oppose all attempts to rewrite and redefine the provisions of the Paris Agreement, particularly uniform mitigation goals for all countries irrespective of development status, and call for sectoral or gas-specific mitigation goals, he added in the presentation.
“Action on mitigation, must take into account historical responsibilities and different national circumstances of the Parties, as well as the needs for sustainable development in developing countries,” he said.
Also read: Two pivotal pillars that will dominate COP27
On adaptation, the global goal on adaptation should reflect realities on the ground and country driven nature of adaptation actions and India’s ask will be to avoid making this a top-down reporting exercise that further burdens developing countries with limited public resources, the presentation said. India supports early operationalization of the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage for providing technical assistance to developing countries for averting, minimising loss and damage due to impacts of climate change.
In a factsheet released by Centre for Science and Environment on Thursday, climate policy researchers said climate finance is expected to be a major issue at COP 27. At COP 26 in Glasgow, developed countries noted with “deep regret” that the $100 billion target of climate finance, first determined in 2009, has not been delivered and is expected to be delivered only by 2023. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) latest estimate suggests that US $83.3 billion in climate finance was mobilized in 2020, but this has been contested by independent estimates.
“Loss and Damage will be big at COP27 because impacts of the climate crisis are severe and frequent now. It is reparations for damages and will establish the polluters pays principle, which will be deterrence over large polluters,” said Sunita Narain, director general, CSE during a briefing on Thursday.
