As Heat Turns Up On Climate Debate, India Stresses Fair Share in Carbon Budget, Says IPCC Backs Its Stand

India welcomes the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which fully supports the country’s view on the necessity of climate finance for developing countries, Union minister for environment forests and climate change Bhupender Yadav said on Tuesday.

Limited finance has been a major obstacle in increasing adoption of innovation and low emission technologies in developing countries — a major roadblock acknowledged by the UN body in its latest report that focusses on climate mitigation. It has also noted the failure of developed countries to provide climate finance of $100 billion per year till 2020, that they had initially pledged to support the fight against climate change.

According to IPCC, the current financial flows, fall short of the levels needed to achieve mitigation goals across all sectors and regions. “The challenge of closing gaps is the largest in developing countries as a whole,” said the minister. He further said the report has fully endorsed India’s position on the need for scale, scope and speed of climate finance.

The third instalment of the sixth assessment report was released on Monday after two weeks of intense negotiations. The report prepared after perusal of over 18,000 scientific papers sounded yet another warning on the unfolding climate crisis, and informed the countries that the current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) may not be enough to limit warming to 1.5℃.

“The report also mentions that equity remains the central element in the UN climate regime, notwithstanding the shift in differentiation between states over time and challenges in assessing fair shares. The access to a fair share of the remaining carbon budget for developing countries has become an important question,” said Yadav who has consistently raised the issue of historical responsibility of developed countries to combat the current crisis.

The issue of climate justice and equity is also crucial for India, which has highlighted it in several climate forums in the past. According to the report, both cumulative and per capita annual emissions rose during the pre-2020 period, but the pre-2020 emissions reduction in developed countries have been insufficient.

Yadav said both historical cumulative emissions and per capita annual emissions show India’s role (as part of South Asia) is minimal. “India’s position on historical responsibility of developed countries for consuming the carbon budget has been scientifically established by this report. It underlines the need for deep and urgent reduction in global emissions. Four fifth of the carbon budget for 1.5℃ temperature increase and two-third of the total carbon budget for 2℃ warming has already been consumed,” he stated.

The government maintained that the report dealing with climate change mitigation and international co-operation is a major contribution to IPCC to fight climate change. The significant role played by lifestyle and behaviour in mitigating climate change has found support from India, which too has been endorsing the need for curbing unsustainable consumption.

The minister said India will continue to be the voice of ambition as well as champion of equity on behalf of developing countries.

“India walks the talks, and speaks from position of strength and responsibility on subject of climate change,” said Yadav, asserting that the government firmly believes that climate change is a global collective action problem that can be solved only through international co-operation and multilateralism. “India will become a part of solution of climate change.”

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