New Delhi: At the ongoing UN climate summit, India said developing countries need a “substantial improvement” in climate finance from rich countries by 2024, as the previously set target of 100 trillion dollars a year by 2020 was miniscule given the scale of their needs. said Thursday.
At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries pledged to jointly mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries combat the effects of climate change. Rich countries, however, have repeatedly failed to provide this funding.
Developing countries, including India, are pushing rich countries to agree on a new global climate finance target – also known as the new collective quantified climate finance target (NCQG) – which they say should number in the trillions, as the costs of dealing with and adapting to climate change have increased.
Rich countries say numbers are political and should be discussed politically, not technically.
During a high-level ministerial dialogue on the NCQG at COP27 on Wednesday, India, on behalf of like-minded developing countries, underscored that climate actions to achieve nationally determined contribution targets ( NDC) require financial, technological and capacity-building support from developed countries, people familiar with the developments said.
Citing the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), India said rich countries are major contributors to atmospheric carbon stock, which clearly underlines the importance of the principles fundamentals of the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement – equity and common action but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capacities (CBDR-RC).
CBDR-RC recognizes the different capacities and responsibilities of each country in the fight against climate change.
“As such, the provisions and principles of the convention and its Paris agreement should guide the discussions and outcomes of the NCQG to ensure an equitable outcome that enables climate action in developing countries,” he said. -he declares.
“The ambitious target set by developing countries requires a substantial improvement in climate finance from the floor of $100 billion per year. Resource mobilization should be led by developed countries and should be long-term, concessional and climate-specific with equitable distribution between adaptation and mitigation projects,” India said.
“The $100 billion pledge made in 2009 by developed countries was not only miniscule given the scale of the needs, but has yet to be met,” he said.
According to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental body made up of rich countries, developed countries mobilized $52.5 billion in 2013.
After falling to $44.6 billion in 2015, the flow of funding has steadily increased.
In 2020, developed countries raised $83.3 billion, up from $80.4 billion in 2019, according to a fact sheet released by the Center for Science and Environment.
The Standing Committee on Finance has estimated that resources in the range of $6 trillion to $11 trillion are needed through 2030 to meet the targets set by developing countries in their NDCs and other communications, including reports determining needs.
NDCs are national plans to limit global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Clearly, the need for climate finance is immense even when estimates have not fully taken into account identified needs, especially that of adaptation,” India said.
According to sources, preliminary discussions on the NCQG have started on a controversial note. Developed and developing countries have locked horns on financing and who should pay for mitigation and adaptation.
At this year’s conference, to be held in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh from November 6-18, developed countries are expected to push developing countries to further step up their climate plans.
On the other hand, developing countries would seek the commitment of rich countries to provide the finance and technology needed to combat climate change and the resulting disasters.
India stressed that access to market-rate finance for climate action will put considerable pressure on the finances of developing countries.
“Going forward, if ambitious climate goals are to be achieved, these must be backed by intentions reflected in ambitious, appropriate and reasonable access to financial resources by developing countries.
“The NCQG must deliver on each of these grounds and therefore enable effective action by developing countries,” he said.
India stressed that it is imperative that technical expert dialogues focus on the quantum and quality of resource mobilization.
“While the private sector can play a complementary role, the commitment lies with developed countries to lead the mobilization from a variety of sources. The scale of public resources that developed countries will contribute will play a critical role in determining climate fluxes. It is therefore disheartening to see the focus solely on private funding,” he said.
India said that while previous technical expert dialogues on the NCQG under the ad hoc work program provided an opportunity to exchange ideas, a more structured and focused approach should be adopted to enable successful completion of the mandate before 2024.
He said discussions within technical expert dialogues in 2023 should focus primarily on quantum, recognizing the urgency of such discussions for developing countries.
India said a discussion on quality and other elements such as access and transparency is extremely important. A structure needs to be put in place moving forward to ensure that decisions on all of these can be made by 2024.
Going into COP27, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had told the media that India expected action from rich countries in terms of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building of poor and developing countries to combat climate change.
India also seeks clarification on the definition of climate finance – the absence of which allows developed countries to green their finances and pass off loans as climate-related aid.
PTI
