India Highlights 4 Important Aspects Of Global Climate Action

PICTURE COURTESY : Street Times

India today made an important intervention during the ‘2024 Annual High-level Ministerial Roundtable on pre-2030 Ambition’, at the COP29 of the UN Climate Change Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was based on the country’s expectations for the overall package on Climate Change Mitigation at CoP29, while harnessing the results from relevant work to shape the mitigation outcome at the Summit.

Stating some facts on Climate Change, Secretary (MoEFCC) & Dy. Leader of Indian Delegation, Ms. Leena Nandan, noted that as per the 2024 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Synthesis report, the cumulative CO2 emissions in the period 2020 to 2030 are likely to use up 86 per cent of the remaining carbon budget. Therefore, “Our discussions and deliberations are happening at a crucial time to act decisively. The Pre-2030 period is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to enhance global climate action”, it noted.

India asserted that this ambitious action-oriented approach hinges on bold actions from those parties who are obligated to take the lead in economy-wide emission reductions. Achieving Net-zero by the Developed countries would set the foundation for a more sustainable and resilient world in this critical decade and the decades to come.

India’s statement clearly stated that it also requires a focus on equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), climate justice in science, policy and practice, 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.

India highlighted 4 important aspects of Global Climate Action, which Parties must address:

i) 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.
India called attention to the importance of knowledge and technology transfer without Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) restrictions for green technologies, and we are emphasising the need for overcoming IPR barriers.
CoP29 should come with tangible and meaningful outcomes on deployment of technology to the Developing countries.
Technology Implementation Program should be able to address the significant gaps in technology deployment by enabling access to affordable, adaptable, and locally relevant technologies.

ii) Climate Finance is central for enabling and implementing climate actions

The first global stocktake of progress towards implementation of the Paris Agreement has highlighted that there is a significant gap in financing for climate action, particularly in Developing countries.
Promoting deployment of clean energy, disaster resilient infrastructure, and adaptation projects require trillions of dollars.
Climate finance should ensure that the deviation from their least cost development pathways committed by the Developing countries are fully met through the public climate finance from the Developed countries. Not doing so puts additional cost on the people in Developing countries, who have been, otherwise, subjected disproportionately to the impacts of climate change, without having caused the problem in the first place.
CoP 29 is a milestone CoP for Climate Finance. It should ensure the long pending commitments from Developed Nations for providing substantial financial resources are made and that such climate finance is equitable and accessible.

iii) Enhancing International Cooperation

Pre-2030 ambition requires enhancement of international cooperation, in terms of positive and measurable results such as identification of cost-effective and scalable mitigation opportunities.
However, international cooperation has been uneven, with some countries shifting to unilateral measures resulting in passing off financial burdens of mitigation actions on to Developing Nations.
There is a need to recognise the negative impacts on Developing Nations due to such unilateral trade measures in the context of climate change.

iv) Mutual Trust

Highlighting Mutual Trust as the key factor in the global fight against Climate Change, India asserted that 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.

India highlighted that the 2024 NDC synthesis report does not paint a gloomy picture altogether. 195 parties have submitted their NDCs with 180 having updated them. In 2030, total global GHG emissions are estimated to be around 2.6 per cent lower than in 2019, indicating the possibility of global emissions peaking before 2030. With the next NDCs due next year, these figures can only improve further. It will be safe to assume that all parties have come together to achieve this important milestone in the fight against climate change.

However, in this crucial CoP on Finance, the statement mentioned, in order to achieve this peaking, the conditional elements of the NDCs need to be implemented. This depends mostly on access to enhanced financial resources, technology transfer and technical cooperation, and capacity-building support; and availability of market- based mechanisms.