India’s Intervention at the Plenary Session of the UNFCCC-CoP29

Syllabus: GS3/Environment

In News

India expressed disappointment at the shift in focus from enabling Climate Finance to an emphasis on mitigation at the Plenary Session at the CoP29 of the UN Climate Change Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

About India’s Intervention at the Plenary Session of the UNFCCC-CoP29

• Stance : 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.
• Concerns about Mitigation Focus: India emphasized the need to address both how and what in relation to mitigation, urging that adequate finance and support must be provided for mitigation ambitions.
  • The shift away from discussions on Climate Finance to a sole focus on mitigation was rejected by India.
• Climate Finance (New Collective Quantitative Goals (NCQG)): India highlighted the importance of grant-based concessional Climate Finance for formulating and implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
  • The proposal for a USD 1.3 trillion mobilization goal, with USD 600 billion as grants, was stressed to ensure successful implementation of climate actions in developing countries.
  • India reiterated that climate actions must be country-driven in line with national circumstances and priorities.
• Mitigation Work Programme (MWP): India protested against changes in the scope of the Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) in the draft text.
  • India rejected the introduction of 2030, 2035, and 2050 targets in the preamble, calling them prescriptive and outside the Paris Agreement framework.
  • India urged the inclusion of concerns regarding Annex-I Parties’ emission increases and negative impacts of unilateral measures on climate action.
• Just Transition: India rejected any renegotiation of the shared understanding on Just Transition established at CoP28.
  • India emphasized that Just Transitions must begin globally, with developed countries taking the lead in mitigation and providing the means of implementation to developing countries.
• Global Stocktake (GST): India disagreed with the follow-up process of the GST outcomes and the new draft text on the UAE dialogue.
  • India pointed out the lack of integration with the text under negotiation on finance and emphasized that the new chapeau text was mitigation-centric and unbalanced.
• Adaptation: India put forward five key points regarding the global goal on adaptation:
  • Indicators on means of implementation should be included to make adaptation work meaningful.
  • Incremental adaptation should be prioritized, with a focus on national circumstances.
  • Data should come from Party-submitted reports, not third-party databases.
  • The Baku Road Map should continue the work on the global adaptation goal.
  • No further segregation of adaptation progress indicators is needed.
• Final Statement: India reiterated that this CoP should focus on finance, enablement, and balancing.
  • It highlighted that failure in providing finance would undermine the fight against climate change.

Source: PIB