Climate finance is central for enabling and implementing climate actions, says India at COP29

New Delhi: Highlighting four essential aspects of global climate action, Leena Nandan, secretary of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) at COP29 on Monday, said the pre-2030 period is an opportunity to enhance global climate action through climate finance to reduce emissions and meet net zero.

The conditional elements of the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) need to be implemented, which depends mostly on access to enhanced financial resources, technology transfer and technical cooperation, and capacity-building support; and the availability of market-based mechanisms, Nandan added.

This comes as current national climate plans fall miles short of what is needed to stop global warming from crippling every economy, and wrecking billions of lives and livelihoods across every country.

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report last month concluded that immediate action is necessary to meet the Paris Agreement goals, but it also shows that it is still possible to limit global heating to 1.5°C.

The report looked at how much nations must promise to cut off greenhouse gases, and deliver, in the next round of NDCs, due for submission in early 2025 ahead of COP30 in Brazil. Cuts of 42% are needed by 2030 and 57% by 2035 to get on track for 1.5°C.

According to the 2024 Nationally Determined Contributions Synthesis report, the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions between 2020 and 2030 are likely to use up 86% of the remaining carbon budget.

The report does not paint a gloomy picture. One hundred and ninety five parties have submitted their NDCs with 180 having updated them. In 2030, total global GHG emissions are estimated to be around 2.6% lower than in 2019, indicating the possibility of global emissions peaking before 2030. With the next NDCs due next year, these figures can only improve further. 

Therefore, “Our discussions and deliberations are happening at a crucial time to act decisively. The pre-2030 period is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to enhance global climate action,” Nandan said in a statement at the ‘2024 Annual High-level Ministerial Roundtable on pre-2030 Ambition’, of UNFCCC’s CoP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. It also requires a focus on equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), climate justice in science, policy and practice, ensuring that developing nations are not burdened with the failures of mitigation actions of pre-2020 regime, and that climate solutions are both effective and just.

Achieving net-zero

India asserted that this ambitious action-oriented approach hinges on bold actions from those parties who are obligated to take the lead in economy-wide emission reductions. Achieving net-zero by the developed countries will set the foundation for a more sustainable and resilient world in this critical decade and the decades to come.

To achieve net zero, India which targets to meet it by 2070 highlighted four important aspects of global climate action for UNFCCC parties.

Pre-2030 ambition requires enhancement of international cooperation, in terms of positive and measurable results such as identification of cost-effective and scalable mitigation opportunities. However, international cooperation has been uneven, with some countries shifting to unilateral measures resulting in passing off financial burdens of mitigation actions on to developing nations. There is a need to recognise the negative impacts on developing nations due to such unilateral trade measures in the context of climate change, the MoEFCC secretary said.

“CoP29 should come with tangible and meaningful outcomes on deployment of technology to the developing countries,” Nandan said, adding, climate finance is central for enabling and implementing climate actions.

CoP29 is a milestone CoP for climate finance. It should ensure the long pending commitments from developed nations for providing substantial financial resources are made and that such climate finance is equitable and accessible.

The first global stocktake of progress towards implementation of the Paris Agreement highlights a significant gap in financing for climate action, particularly in developing countries.

In another development, Nandan at the ‘Second Annual High-Level Ministerial Round Table on Just Transition’, at CoP29, said India’s interpretation of ‘Just Transitions’ is far broader than the narrow framing of the questions.

At CoP27, it was decided that the issues of just transition are not very narrow but are linked to wider economic and social aspects of the transition, among others. “The denial of international equity narrows our domestic options and poses further challenges to our objectives of achieving immediate, rapid, and sustained access to development opportunities and affects the most vulnerable communities in our countries the most,” she added.

The concept of just transition, broadly defined as ensuring that no one is left behind or pushed behind in the transition to low- carbon and environmentally sustainable economies and societies, has gathered increased interest and recognition.