Talking climate change: A look at India's stance over past COP sessions

Country wants greater climate accountability by richer nations

At the upcoming conference of parties (COP27) in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, India will argue for climate finance, Loss and Damage Funding (LDF), and climate adaptation solutions. In the few past editions of COP, India has been a proponent of climate accountability by richer nations. Here’s a look at how India’s stance has adapted and evolved.

COP 26, Glasgow, Scotland, 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India’s “Panchamrit” goals for climate action: the five-point plan included attaining 500GW non-fossil energy capacity by 2030, fulfilling 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030, reduction of total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes, reduction of the carbon intensity of the economy by 45 per cent by 2030 over 2005 levels, and achieving the target of net zero emissions by 2070.

India highlighted the importance of climate finance and low-cost climate technologies. It urged the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to track climate finance the way it does the progress in climate mitigation. It also advocated that all countries should have equitable access to the global carbon budget, a finite global resource, for keeping temperature increase within the limits set by the 2015 Paris Agreement and all countries must stay within their fair share of this global carbon budget, while using it responsibly.

COP 25, Madrid, Spain, 2019

India played a mixed role at the 25th COP. Prakash Javadekar, the country’s environment minister then, emphasised the transition of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits earned under the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement. He effectively demanded the carryover of the untraded emission reduction certificates held by Indian companies (estimated at 750 million Certified Emissions Reductions or CERs), which they can sell to raise funds.

On the question of ‘loss and damage’, India urged developed countries to give financial teeth to the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage (WIM). The Warsaw Mechanism is resisted by developed countries that fear that the provision of finance would imply admission of legal liability. India also took a lead in calling for more finance for developing countries for climate action, emphasising that “not even 2 per cent” of the promised “$1 trillion in the last 10 years” had been delivered.

India criticised the developed world’s continuing poor record on climate action and argued that unless a stocktaking exercise of the fulfillment of various pre-2020 commitments by developed countries (such as those made at Copenhagen, Cancun and Kyoto) showed that they were making significant progress, India would not raise its climate ambition for its next round of Paris Agreement targets due in 2020.

COP 24, Katowice, Poland, 2018

India said the Paris Agreement was 'non-negotiable' and there could be no compromise on the basic principles such as equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC).

The statement came amid a move by the developed countries, led by the US and the EU, to dilute CBDR-RC, a principle within the UNFCCC that acknowledges the different capabilities and differing responsibilities of individual countries in addressing climate change.

India also welcomed the IPCC Special Report 2018, which had stated that human activities are estimated to have caused approximately one degree Celsius of global warming above the pre-industrial levels and is currently increasing at 0.2 degree Celsius per decade.

COP 23, Bonn, Germany, 2017

Thanks to efforts made by several developing nations, including India and China, many of the proposals floated by India as part of Like Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) were agreed upon by the COP Presidency and found a place in the draft decision text.

Early entry into force of the second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol (KP II) was at the heart of pre-2020 discussions of the Paris Agreement, including a revisit of greenhouse gas mitigation targets by developed countries and provision of finance, technology, and capacity-building support to developing countries.

Other important decisions included a periodic stocktaking of pre-2020 implementation and ambition at COP 24 in 2018 and COP 25 in 2019.

COP 22, Marrakech, Morocco, 2016

Attention to the lack of progress on the part of developed nations on pre-2020 action as mandated by the Kyoto Protocol and the Doha Amendment of 2012, was also the central piece of India’s argument in Marrakesh for the COP22.

Indian environment minister Anil Madhav Dave highlighted India’s commitment to developing clean and renewable energy while pointing out that realisation of financial commitments made under the convention remained a concern for developing countries.

India’s COP report card

• COP 1 (Berlin, 1995): Proposed 20% cut in carbon-dioxide emission of the industrialized countries by the year 2005
• COP 3 (Kyoto, 1997): Endorsed the Kyoto Protocol as an Annex II member, which carried no responsibility towards emission mitigation
• COP 5 (Bonn, 1999): Pointed out that the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) also acknowledges that development and poverty eradication are the first and the overriding priorities of developing countries, consequent to which their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would grow
• COP 8 (New Delhi, 2002): Laid emphasis on the need for financial resources to help developing countries to adopt the adverse impact of climate change
• COP 13 (Bali, 2007): Demanded that the rich countries compensate developing countries for afforestation drive & for avoiding deforestation; this demand was accepted by key decision-making Contact Group of the conference.
• COP 17 (Durban, 2011): Proposed three agenda items for consideration by COP. These were issues of equity, unilateral actions & technology-related IPRs.
• COP 21 (Paris, 2015): Secured its interest and that of developing countries in the Paris Agreement; called for climate justice (a fair share of the carbon budget)