COP27: India Resists Calls for Developing Nations to Raise Ambitions, says Rich Countries Must Take Lead

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 15th Nov. India resisted calls for developing countries to raise their ambitions at the ongoing UN climate summit in Egypt on Monday, saying “goalposts are being shifted constantly,” while rich nations have “enormously” failed to deliver the technology and financial resources required for low-carbon development.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said at the “Ministerial High-Level Roundtable on Pre-2030 Ambition” that developed countries must take the lead in raising ambitions as they have the majority of finance and technology.”

“The convention (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement both recognise this, but we have not had adequate action,” he said.

Yadav stated that countries’ historical cumulative emissions should be used to determine their responsibility to raise ambitions, and that some developed countries “must reach net zero even before 2030” as their goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 is “not enough at all.”

Last week, developed countries proposed that discussions on a new plan to increase mitigation and ambition should include all top 20 emitters, including India and China, rather than just the rich countries that have historically been held responsible for climate change.

However, India blocked the attempt with the support of other developing countries such as China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan.

At the pre-2030 ambition roundtable, India stated that not providing financial resources to developing countries is a “enormous failure,” and that calling for ambition from developing countries is “meaningless if the time required for low-carbon development is not recognized.”

“Unfortunately, with every decade, with every new agreement, with every new scientific report, more and more action is demanded from the developing countries. If goalposts are changed constantly, it will not yield results but only words and promises,” Yadav said.

The minister said it must be recognised that the opportunities for ambition vary across parties. If not, efforts to increase ambition from those who have little to give will only result in inaction, he added.  A key theme at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or COP27 is a call for rich nations, responsible for a large share of historical emissions and global warming, to deliver technology and finance to help developing and poor countries fight climate change.

Developed countries are expectedly pushing developing nations to further intensify their climate plans.

Yadav said increasing ambition requires “public action” which includes public sources of climate finance and technology.  “Leaving it to markets alone will not help. Markets do not function well in normal times, but either do not function or function very inequitably in moments of crisis. We see this with the energy crisis in developed countries,” he said.

He also said that the right sectors must be identified for ambition and targeting small farmers for mitigation in the name of ambition would be a serious mistake.

“If we target domestic and public lighting, and increase the use of clean fuel to replace biomass, we can achieve some significant gains in low-carbon development,” the minister said.