Developed countries must accept historical responsibility for climate change and provide financial resources to developing nations to combat the crisis, India said at the COP26 climate summit on Monday, PTI reported.
The COP, or Conference of Parties summit, began in the Scottish city of Glasgow on October 31 and will go on till November 12. Representatives from nearly 200 countries are engaged in negotiations on how to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees to 2 degrees Celsius as compared to pre-industrial levels.
Chandni Raina, advisor to the Department of Economic Affairs, on Monday spoke on behalf of India during the presidency event at the first high-level ministerial dialogue on climate finance.
India recorded its “deep disappointment” with the discussions at the United Nations climate conference till now.
“The global action on climate change is contingent on the delivery of timely and adequate finance,” Raina said. “Developed countries had taken a commitment in 2009 to mobilise $100 billion per year by 2020 for climate action by developing countries. The promise has not been met.”
The official was referring to the COP16 Accord of 2009, under which developed countries committed themselves to mobilising the amount.
Raina said that financial support from developed countries was a pre-condition to climate action by developing countries. “The scope, scale and speed of climate finance have to increase considerably,” she said, according to PTI.
India’s statement also called for “greater predictability and transparency” with respect to finance flows.
The country made a similar demand in a separate statement on behalf of BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) at a meeting on Monday, The Indian Express reported.
“BASIC would like to warn that lack of a serious approach to climate finance will jeopardise the enhanced mitigation and adaptation ambition as well as net zero pledges of parties,” Richa Sharma, additional secretary in the Union environment ministry said.
Sharma said that post-2020 mitigation ambitions (targets aimed at reducing the impacts of climate change) and net-zero promises need “significantly enhanced climate finance”.
“The exact magnitude of the new finance goal can be determined through a structured process with clear timelines and milestones so that we have a new finance goal well before 2025,” the official said. “This is a simple ask from many developing country parties. Yet what we are getting is more workshops and in-session seminars to discuss the new goal.”
On November 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also targeted developed countries for falling short on their promise to provide developing countries with the finance necessary to switch to new, efficient technologies that could help rein in climate change.
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