COP29: India bats for enhanced climate finance, technology transfer

Baku, Nov 18 (IANS) India on Monday sought access to enhanced financial resources, technology transfer and technical cooperation, and capacity-building support, besides the availability of market-based mechanisms.

Speaking at the high-level ministerial roundtable on pre-2030 ambition at the 29th session of the climate change conference of parties (COP29) being held from November 11-22 in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, Leena Nandan, Secretary with India’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate, said, “We are in this crucial COP on finance.”

“It is an opportunity for the developed countries to ensure the success of this COP and foster trust to realise important milestones in climate ambitions by 2030.”

Achieving net zero by the developed countries would set the foundation for a more sustainable and resilient world in this critical decade and the decades to come, she said.

“It also requires a focus on equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, climate justice in science, policy and practice, ensuring that developing nations are not burdened with the failures of mitigation actions of the pre-2020 regime and that climate solutions are both effective and just.”

The deputy leader of the Indian delegation highlighted four important aspects of global climate action, which Parties (nations) must address: First, there is a need for scaling up innovative actions through barrier and restrictions-free technology transfer.

“New technologies and solutions are needed to drive the transition to a low-carbon economy. However, innovation in areas like clean energy, carbon removal, etc., is still in the early stages and there are barriers to scaling and transfer to developing nations.

“India is calling attention to the importance of knowledge and technology transfer without Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) restrictions for green technologies, and we are emphasising the need for overcoming IPR barriers.

“COP29 should come with tangible and meaningful outcomes on deployment of technology to the developing countries. We are particularly keen that the technology implementation program should be able to address the significant gaps in technology deployment by enabling access to affordable, adaptable, and locally relevant technologies.”

She said that climate finance is central to enabling and implementing climate actions. The first global stocktake of progress towards implementation of the Paris Agreement has highlighted that there is a significant gap in financing for climate action, particularly in developing countries.

She said promoting the deployment of clean energy, disaster-resilient infrastructure, and adaptation projects requires trillions of dollars.

“Climate finance should ensure that the deviation from their least-cost development pathways committed by the developing countries is fully met through the public climate finance from the developed countries. Not doing so, puts additional cost on the people in developing countries, who have been, otherwise, subjected disproportionately to the impacts of climate change, without having caused the problem in the first place.”

Saying this summit is a milestone COP for climate finance, she said: “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.”

Third, she batted for enhancing International cooperation. The pre-2030 ambition requires the enhancement of international cooperation, in terms of positive and measurable results such as the 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 onto 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.”

India said the 2024 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Synthesis Report does not pose a gloomy picture altogether.

“A total of 195 parties have submitted their NDCs with 180 having updated them. In 2030, total global GHG emissions are estimated to be around 2.6 per cent lower than in 2019, indicating the possibility of global emissions peaking before 2030. It will be safe to assume that all parties have come together to achieve this important milestone in the fight against climate change.”

“With the next NDC due next year, these figures can only improve further,” an optimist Nandan added.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

–IANS

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