India calls for more climate contributions ahead of key meet

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

India has put forth its expectations on the ideal 'Baku To Belem Roadmap to 1.3T' ahead of the Bonn Climate Meeting which begins on June 16, stating that without sufficient climate finance, even proposed nationally determined contributions will not materialise, leave alone any ambitious future NDCs.
In a succinct and strongly worded submission to the UN climate body, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on May 27, India has said climate finance should flow from developed countries to developing countries and that public capital should be used strategically to crowd in private investments for climate action, pointing out that excessive borrowing poses risks to a country's fiscal stability. It added that the roadmap should support meaningful translation of developing country NDCs to concrete actions.
'At the outset, India expresses concern with the substantial gaps remaining between the current annual quantum provided under the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance and the financing needs currently identified by developing countries for their 2030 NDC commitments,' India flagged in its submission.
'Without sufficient climate finance, even the proposed NDCs would not fructify, leave alone any enhanced level of ambition in future NDCs. The NCQG outcome of COP 29 was adopted despite India's objection and signals the unwillingness and failure of developed countries to fulfil their responsibilities under the Convention and its Paris Agreement. The 'Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T' is an opportunity to put the financial discussion on the right track in accordance with Article 9.1 of Paris Agreement,' India added.
Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement states 'Developed country Parties shall provide financial resources to assist developing country Parties with respect to both mitigation and adaptation in continuation of their existing obligations under the Convention.'
HT reported on November 25 last year that the COP29 climate talks in Baku ended in unprecedented acrimony as India led a fierce pushback against what it called a 'stage-managed' climate finance deal, moments after the Azerbaijan Presidency hastily gavelled through a contentious proposal.
India was the first to reject the decision for not reflecting the priorities of the Global South — a dismissal endorsed by many other countries.
Baku was expected to see progress on NCQG, basically a new commitment on climate funding by developed countries.
The NCQG text set a climate finance goal of 'at least $300 billion per year by 2035' and launched the 'Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T.'
COP 30 is scheduled for later this year at Belem, Brazil, and the understanding at Baku was that countries would use the year between the two conferences to arrive at a roadmap for climate funding goal of $1.3 trillion.
However, India identified specific problems that could fundamentally alter climate finance obligations:
'As we struggle to deal with climate change, the outcome proposed in the paper will further affect our ability to adapt to climate change, greatly impact our NDC ambition, and its implementation... will severely affect our growth,' Chandni Raina, the negotiator from India and a finance ministry advisor said then, emphasising that 'the amount proposed to be mobilised is abysmally poor, it is a paltry sum and it will not enable climate action.' She specifically highlighted three problematic paragraphs in the Baku declaration: Allowing finance from 'a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral ; recognising climate finance mobilised through multilateral development banks and ; and encouraging developing country contributions through South-South cooperation.
The NCQG text had decided that the roadmap will be joint initiative of the Presidencies and not a negotiated outcome. India said in its latest submission that it should be seen that this is indeed not a negotiated outcome among parties. Further action should be country led, India stressed.
'The roadmap must be based on approaches that duly recognise the country-led nature of climate action. In the context of developing countries, achieving sustained growth depends on fostering a 'virtuous cycle' of domestic savings and productive investment. There is a well-established link between the Human Development Index (HDI) and per capita energy consumption,' India's submission added.
Global tax levies and specific sector approaches must be excluded, the submission went on to say. These not only lack international consensus but also run counter to the principles of equity and CBDR-RC and the bottom-up, nationally determined nature of climate action. The financial commitments of developed nations should reflect their historical responsibilities in their contribution to global cumulative GHG emissions.
In 1992, at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the CBDR-RC was officially enshrined in the UNFCCC treaty on Climate Change. Article 3 paragraph 1 of the UNFCCC said: 'The Parties should protect the climate system for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind, on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Accordingly, the developed country Parties should take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof' .
Further, overleveraging for climate initiatives through excessive borrowing poses risks to the country's fiscal stability, India said in its submission.
Finally, India has said the roadmap should convey the right signals and messages for urgent climate actions enabled by scaling up climate finance to developing countries effectively.
'In an atmosphere of aid cuts and reducing international cooperation, there are few hooks remaining to hold developed countries accountable for what they owe and committed to. Reinforcing their duty to provide finance to developing countries is a demand that the Global South must not give up on,' said Avantika Goswami, Programme Manager, Climate Change Centre for Science and Environment.