India pushed agenda of developing nations at COP 26: Bhupender Yadav
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2022 — the foreign ministry’s flagship conference on geopolitics — Yadav said developing countries made their stand clear on financing during COP 26.
India highlighted the need for defining climate financing and increasing the allocation of funds to developing countries for adaptation efforts at the COP 26 summit in Glasgow last year, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said on Wednesday, speaking about the role the country played at the important climate summit.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2022 — the foreign ministry’s flagship conference on geopolitics — Yadav said developing countries made their stand clear on financing during COP 26.
“This year is the 50th year of the Stockholm Conference (1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and 50 years of global environmental action.) The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was formed 30 years ago. Every year, policymakers come together under UNFCCC to discuss the future of the planet. As far as COP 26 is concerned, we had a few achievements,” said Yadav at the event.
“Developing countries demanded that we must define climate finance. Ultimately, they (the advanced countries) agreed and decided that some committee must be formed which can define the exact meaning of climate finance. Is it a loan, subsidy or private finance? Are these climate finance? That should be clarified,” he said.
He added that the second demand of developing countries was about funding for adaptation efforts.
“We know that only 25% of climate finance is categorised as money for adaptation. Developing countries need more money for the purpose of adaptation. It was the pledge of developed countries in Copenhagen that they would provide $100 billion for developing countries, but they are not able to fulfil their own promise,” the minister said.
In 2009, at COP15 in Copenhagen, developed countries committed to a goal of raising $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries, which has remained unfulfilled.
“To address climate change, technology transfer is necessary. That is also not happening. India is among few G20 countries that has fulfilled its nationally determined contribution (NDC) under Paris Agreement,” Yadav added.
Under the Paris Agreement, India submitted its NDCs in 2015 with three quantifiable targets — reducing the emissions intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005 level; to achieve about 40% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030; and to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2eq through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
India has nearly achieved all of these Yadav said. “Our track is very good. What we announced we have achieved already,” he said.
“Attended the @RaisinaDialogue. Highlighted that India is the voice for developing countries in the fight against climate change. At COP26, the developed world agreed to clearly define climate finance and there was an increasing recognition of the need to finance adaptation,” tweeted Yadav.
Speaking at the Glasgow summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India’s non-fossil energy capacity will reach 500 GW by 2030, meeting 50% of the country’s energy requirements by then.
He said that India will reduce its total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030, reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45% by 2030, over 2005 levels, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2070.
The PM also stated that such ambitious action will be impossible without adequate climate finance from developed nations, calling on rich countries to make $1 trillion available as climate finance “as soon as possible.”
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