India to push for a $100 bn per year climate financing in COP27

NEW DELHI: Bhupender Yadav, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India will head the Indian delegation to the 27^th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6–18, 2022.

In a press release today, the government has said that India is fully involved in the process and supports the Egyptian government’s efforts to produce significant results at 27^th Conference of Parties (COP 27).

Developing nations made it very clear that UNFCCC is at the centre of the collective and multilateral response to the challenge of climate change during the 56^th session of the Subsidiary Bodies, held in June 2022 in Bonn. The government has committed that the Convention and the Paris Agreement shall be faithfully, fairly, and fully implemented in conformity with their objectives and guiding principles.

India anticipates significant advancements in the talks surrounding climate finance and clarity regarding its definition. Since ‘what gets measured gets done’ is a cliche, more precision on the definition of climate finance is required if developing nations are to effectively gauge the volume of financing for climate action. In spite of the fact that the Standing Committee on Finance will present a report on the various definitions, we hope to have fruitful discussions on this to reach a consensus. The word must be interpreted in accordance with the countries’ climate financing commitments set in the Convention and its Paris Agreement.

By 2020 and then annually through 2025, the target of $100 billion in climate funding is still to be reached. Several definitions of what has flown as climate financing are available because of a lack of general understanding. While the specified sum must be fulfilled as soon as possible, there is a need to significantly increase ambition in order to guarantee adequate resource flow for the next quantifiable target beyond 2024. To achieve the goals of delivering climate money, it is essential that the UNFCCC and its operating organisations strengthen their financial structures. This needs to be discussed more since the resources at their disposal should be used wisely.

Egyptian Presidency of COP27 has rightly dubbed COP 27 as the COP of ‘Implementation.’ India applauds this action since, over the past 12 months, the world has witnessed a growing discrepancy between rich nations’ declarations at COP 26 in Glasgow and their actual actions. The COP27 must discuss loss and damage as well as make concrete progress on the topic of loss and damage financing. The Convention’s existing financial instruments, including as the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Green Climate Fund (GCF), and Adaptation Fund, have not been able to raise or provide money for loss and damage brought on by climate change. The majority of money is going towards mitigation, making it difficult and time-consuming to secure funds for these methods. Funding for adaptation is woefully insufficient, and there may be no funding at all for loss and damage.

The Work Programme on Enhanced Ambition in Mitigation and Implementation cannot be permitted to move the Paris Agreement’s objectives, according to the release. The GST procedure and the other measures outlined in the Paris Agreement, such as the submission of long-term low emissions development strategies and improved NDCs, are enough. Best practices, modern tools, and innovative forms of cooperation for technology transfer and capacity building can all be productively considered in the Mitigation Work Programme.

India will reiterate its invitation to countries to join the pro-people and pro-planet LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) movement, which aims to change the globe from mindless and wasteful consumerism to mindful and purposeful exploitation of natural resources.