COP29: India voices strong discontent over lack of action by developed countries on climate finance

Baku: India expressed deep dissatisfaction on unwillingness by developed countries to engage in “Climate Finance and Mitigation Work Programme” in the first week of ongoing at CoP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, saying “If there are no means of implementation, there can be no climate action”.

India’s reaction came after the developed nations failed to build a consensus on climate finance so far in the COP209, in which India earlier reiterated that the developed countries need to provide and mobilise at least USD 1.3 trillion every year till 2030 to fight against Climate Change.

Delivering a statement in the closing plenary of the Subsidiary Bodies on the ‘Agenda on Sharm el-Sheikh Mitigation Ambition and Implementation Work Programme (MWP) India said, ” India expressed dissatisfaction on the insistence of developed countries to expand scope of MWP from what was agreed in past, thus inhibiting progress on the agenda item”.

India aligned its stance with the views expressed by the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs), the Arab Group and the African Group of Negotiators (AGN).

The statement mentioned “We have seen no progress in matters that are critical for developing countries. Our part of the world is facing some of the worst impacts of climate change, with far lower capacity to recover from those impacts or to adapt to the changes to the climatic system for which we are not responsible.”

The statement further read, “We notice a tendency to ignore the decisions taken in the past related to the Sharm el-Sheikh mitigation ambition and implementation work programme at CoP27 and the context of the Global Stocktake in the Paris Agreement, where it informs the parties for undertaking climate actions.”
Expressing frustration on the unwillingness to engage on this issue by the Developed countries during the past week in this “Finance CoP” the Statement read, “If there are no means of implementation, there can be no climate action. How can we discuss climate action, when it is being made impossible for us to act, even as our challenges in dealing with the impacts of climate change are increasing?”

India asserted that those with the highest capacity to take climate action have continuously shifted goalposts, delayed climate action, and consumed a highly disproportionate share of the global carbon budget.

The lead negotiator stated, “We now have to meet our developmental needs in a situation of increasingly depleting the carbon budget and increasing impacts of climate change. We are being asked to increase mitigation ambition by those who have shown no such ambition, either in their own mitigation ambition and implementation, nor in providing the means of implementation.”

The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) kicked off on Monday in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Delegates from about 200 countries and stakeholders are expected to attend the summit, which will last until November 22.

The primary goal of COP29 is to bring together countries to develop a shared plan for curbing further global warming.

It would also focus on scaling up climate finance to help developing nations tackle the adverse effects of climate change.