At COP29 in Baku, India expressed disappointment at developed countries for not seriously discussing how to support climate action in developing countries, and said it is impossible to tackle climate change without financial and technical help.
Making a statement at the concluding session of the meeting of Subsidiary Bodies on Mitigation Work Program (MWP) on Saturday, India said developed countries, which have historically contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions and have more resources and Has the ability to work. change, climate action has been repeatedly delayed and the goalposts have been constantly shifting.
“We have seen (over the past week) no progress on matters important to developing countries. Our part of the world is experiencing some of the worst impacts of climate change and the ability to recover from those impacts or adapt to the changes is very limited.” Is less.” A climate system for which we are not responsible,” said Nilesh Shah, India’s deputy chief negotiator.
He said the MWP is meant to help, not punish, and should respect the right of each country to set its own climate targets based on its specific needs and circumstances.
Nilesh Sah said that if there are no means of implementation – financial support, technology and capacity building – developing and low-income economies cannot cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to its impacts.
“How can we discuss climate action when it is being made impossible for us to act, while our challenges in dealing with the impacts of climate change continue to grow?” The Indian negotiator said.
India said developed countries with the highest capacity to take climate action “have consistently changed targets, delayed climate action, and consumed a highly disproportionate share of the global carbon budget”.
“We now have to meet our development needs in a situation where the carbon budget is shrinking and the impacts of climate change are growing. We are being asked to increase mitigation ambition by those who have shown no such ambition -Neither in its mitigation efforts nor in providing the means for implementation.” “An attempt is being made to transform the bottom-up approach into a top-down approach, which in turn is attempting to reverse the entire mandate of the MWP and the principles of the Paris Agreement. Since last week, ‘Finance COP ‘ Shah said, ‘We are disappointed by the reluctance of developed countries on this issue.’
At COP29, countries are discussing how the MWP, created two years ago at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to aid mitigation, should work and what it should focus on.
Consultations on the MWP remain tense, with developing countries saying it is intended to help nations share ideas, experiences and solutions to cut emissions.
They argue that it was not intended to create new goals or force any country to take specific actions.
On the other hand, developed countries want the MWP to push for stronger, more immediate action from all countries.
Overall, a new climate finance package to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change is a top priority for this year’s UN climate talks.
In 2009, developed countries pledged to provide USD 100 billion every year by 2020 to support climate action in developing countries, but this target could only be met in 2022.
About 70 percent of the funds provided came in the form of loans, increasing the financial burden on low-income countries already struggling with the impacts of climate change.
As climate impacts worsen, developing countries need at least US$1.3 trillion in financial assistance each year.
They argue that this should come from government funding of developed countries, and not from the private sector, which is motivated by profit and is not accountable to the UN climate process.
Little progress has been made on the issue during talks, with developed countries pushing to make the climate finance package a “global investment target” that would include money from all sectors – public, private, domestic and international.
“Climate finance cannot be turned into an investment target when it is a unidirectional provision and mobility target from developed to developing countries. The Paris Agreement makes it clear who will provide and mobilize climate finance – it is developed countries.” India’s chief negotiator Naresh Pal Gangwar said this during a high-level dialogue on climate finance on Thursday.
Some developed countries, led by the EU and the US, argue that the global economic landscape has changed significantly since 1992. They suggest that countries like China and some Gulf states that have since become richer should also contribute to the new climate finance target.
Developing countries see this as an attempt to shift responsibility away from those who have historically benefited from industrialization and have contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions.
They argue that expecting them to contribute, especially when many are still struggling with poverty and inadequate infrastructure amid the worsening impacts of climate, undermines the principle of equality.
The possible withdrawal of the US and Argentina from the Paris Agreement has significantly affected the morale of negotiators at COP29.
However, countries like China, Britain and Brazil have taken a strong leadership role, raising hopes of a much-needed agreement to maintain confidence in the multilateral diplomatic system.
Negotiators are now hoping for a strong signal from the G20 heads of government who will meet in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on November 18-19.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
