India expresses disappointment at shifting of focus from enablement of adequate Climate Finance to emphasis only on mitigation

New Delhi : India has expressed disappointment at the shifting of focus from enablement of adequate Climate Finance to emphasis only on mitigation, at the Plenary Session at the CoP29 of the UN Climate Change Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. India aligned its stance with the statement made by Bolivia on behalf of Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) and reiterated that the process of the fight against Climate Change has to be guided by the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement, as the Global South continues to face the intense impacts of Climate Change.

Delivering India’s statement, Secretary (MoEFCC) and Dy. Leader of the Delegation, Leena Nandan said, “We feel disappointed by the fact that we continue to shift focus when the time has come to ensure that the mitigation actions are fully supported through provisions of adequate Finances as per CBDR-RC and equity considerations. CoP after CoP, we keep talking about mitigation ambitions – what is to be done, without talking about how it is to be done – in other words, the enablement of mitigation ambitions. This CoP started with Focus on enablement through New Collective Quantitative Goals (NCQG), but as we move towards the end, we see shifting of the focus to mitigation.” India firmly asserted that any attempts to deflect the focus again from Finance to repeated emphasis on mitigation cannot be accepted.

The statement read, “All countries have submitted their NDCs and will be submitting the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) being informed by the various decisions we have taken together in the past as well as on the basis of our national circumstances and in the context of sustainable development goals and poverty eradication. What we decide here on climate finance will certainly influence what we submit next year. The attempt by some parties to further talk about mitigation is primarily a shift in focus from their own responsibilities of providing finance.” The statement called for a ‘Balance in the Climate Discourse’, and added, “If not so ensured, we may have continuous talk of mitigation that has no meaning, unless supported by enablement that is needed to make climate actions happen on the ground.”

India put forth its stance on several issues that are critical in the fight against Climate Change. India highlighted that as grant-based concessional Climate Finance is the most critical enabler to formulate and implement the new NDCs, action will get severely impacted in the absence of adequate means of implementation. The statement read, “The document needs to be specific on the structure, quantum, quality, timeframe, access, transparency, and review. The goal for mobilisation needs to be USD 1.3 trillion, with USD 600 billion of this coming through grants and grants equivalent resources.

Expansion of the contributor base, reflection of conditional elements such as macroeconomic and fiscal measures, suggestion for carbon pricing, focus on private sector actors for scaling up resource flows as investments – is contrary to the mandate for the goal. NCQG is not an investment goal. We must accept that climate actions by Developing countries will have to be country driven, in line with their circumstances and in the manner best suited to country priorities.”

India strongly protested against changing the scope of the Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) in the draft text. India further cautioned against shifting of temperature goals, which need to be as per the exact language in the Paris Agreement. India called the introduction to the targets for 2030, 2035 and 2050 in the preamble as purely prescriptive.

India urged to add to the text certain elements like noting the pre-2020 mitigation gap by Annex-I Parties; noting with strong concern that the emission of Annex-I Parties is increasing from 2020 to 2030 etc and strongly urged to recall the negative impacts of coercive unilateral measures on climate action specifically mitigation ambition and implementation.