India to push for predictable climate finance, equitable transition at key UN summit

Why in the News

India wants developed countries’ long-standing obligation to provide climate finance to developing nations turned into a formal Climate Finance Work Programme. The Union Environment Minister set out India’s priorities for the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Turkiye, from November 9 to 20. They also include technology transfer and letting each country decide its own approach to mitigation, or cutting emissions, and adaptation, or coping with climate impacts.

What does India want on climate finance?

1. Climate finance: Climate finance is money that developed countries provide to help developing countries cut emissions and adapt to a changing climate.
2. Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement: This provision says developed countries shall provide financial resources to help developing countries with both mitigation and adaptation.
3. India’s terms: India says this finance must be “predictable, largely public and concessional”, meaning grants or loans cheaper than market rates, and must not add to developing countries’ debt.
4. Work programme: India will seek a COP31 decision to start the Climate Finance Work Programme, a structured process of talks. Finance will be a central negotiating issue.
5. The takeaway: India wants climate finance that developing countries can plan around, not loans that deepen their debt.

What will India resist on mitigation?

1. Fossil fuel language: India is not inclined to accept summit text suggesting “fossil fuel cuts or phase-out”, meaning their gradual end, or restrictions on their use.
2. India’s own pathway: India says it is already raising its share of renewable energy, increasing forest cover and improving energy efficiency.
3. Top-down targets: India will “oppose attempts” to impose new mitigation targets on developing countries from above, which would override each country’s nationally determined approach.
4. Just Transition Work Programme: India will seek continuation of this UN track, which deals with shifting economies away from fossil fuels fairly for workers and communities.

Why does India want adaptation indicators kept voluntary?

1. Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA): The GGA is the Paris Agreement’s shared aim of building countries’ ability to cope with climate impacts. Indicators being developed will measure progress towards it.
2. No strings on finance: India argues the indicators should stay voluntary and should not become conditions for accessing climate finance.
3. Fewer parameters: The Union Environment Minister called it a success that the indicators’ parameters were cut from nearly a thousand to 59.

Challenges

1. Donor reluctance: Developed countries prefer broad goals to firm public commitments. Eg. The goal agreed at Baku of $300 billion a year by 2035.
2. Pressure on fossil fuels: Refusing phase-out language could isolate India from parties pressing for a faster shift. Eg. COP28’s 2023 call to transition away from fossil fuels.
3. Reporting burden: Mandatory indicators could tie adaptation finance to data and reporting capacity that poorer countries lack.

Way Forward

1. Launch the work programme: COP31 should start the Climate Finance Work Programme with a fixed timeline for its outcomes.
2. Grants over loans: Developed countries should raise the grant and concessional share of their finance, so it does not add to debt.
3. Indicators for learning: Use GGA indicators to track progress, and keep them separate from eligibility for finance.

Conclusion

India goes to COP31 seeking finance it can rely on, while refusing commitments that would constrain its own development path. Whether Antalya starts the Climate Finance Work Programme and keeps adaptation indicators voluntary is the outcome to watch.

Back2Basics: Conference of the Parties (COP)

1. Origin: The COP was established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 1992, the UN’s climate change treaty.
2. Mandate: Its annual meetings assess and advance the UNFCCC’s implementation, including emission reduction commitments and climate finance.
3. Venue: It has no permanent headquarters and is hosted by a different country each year.
4. Membership: It has 198 parties.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2010] The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is and international treaty drawn at (a) United Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972 (b) UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio De Janerio, 1992 (c) World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002 (d) UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen, 2009 ANSWER: (b)”