COP26: India expresses 'deep disappointment' over climate financing

India, has been pushing for the achieving of the climate financing commitment of the developed world, said global action on climate change is contingent on the delivery of timely and adequate finance.

Blaming the developed world for not meeting the climate financing targets, India has expressed “deep disappointment” over the allocation of resources.

“We record our deep disappointment with the deliberations in COP26 so far. Developed countries must accept the historical responsibility and provide the financial resources to the developing countries,” it said in a statement at the first ‘High Level Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance’.

India, which has been pushing for the fulfilment of the climate financing commitment from the developed world, said global action on climate change was contingent on the delivery of timely and adequate finance.

“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. Scaling up mobilisation is pertinent given the huge gap between the requirement and extent of mobilisation,” said the statement.

Developed economies, led by the US, pledged $100 billion climate financing at COP15 in 2009 for the developing countries to shift to a low-carbon future and fund their climate mitigation and adaptability plans. However, no country has made any significant announcement till now to support the climate action plans of developing countries. In addition to it, developing countries have also pushed for an ‘adaptation fund’, but there has not been any major commitment.

During COP21 in Paris, countries extended the $100 billion goal to 2025 from 2020. Similarly, the ‘long term finance’ (LTF) program, which would track this investment, would also need a relook. Several countries have also asked for a future new finance goal beyond 2025. The COP21 decision also mandated that parties should set a new collective quantified goal from a floor of $100 billion per year, considering the needs and priorities of developing countries.

India said it is imperative that all parties should act decisively to deliver on their commitment to provide financial support and that the “scope, scale and speed” of climate finance have to increase considerably.

India expects that the ongoing COP26 would put in place a structured process to arrive at an ambitious new collective quantified goal. “Let us not forget that global climate action rests on the shoulders of means of implementation. It is 2021 now and we need a road map on arriving at a consensus on this mandate by 2023,” it said.

According to Aarti Khosla, founder and director, Climate Trends, there was no new climate finance commitment yet from key nations. “There needs to be a push towards the EU and countries such as the US, which fall short of their fair share of climate financing to commit to larger goals,” she added.

India on behalf of like-minded developing countries (LMDC) has also submitted a position paper on the definition of climate finance, which elaborates on the elements of climate finance as outlined by the Convention and the Paris Agreement. India has urged the developed world to take it into consideration.

Richa Sharma, lead negotiator (India) and additional secretary, ministry of environment, forest and climate change, on Monday said that BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) countries support strong, credible domestic mitigation actions by developed countries without undue reliance on cheap offsets to maintain their high carbon, unsustainable lifestyles.

“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,” Sharma said speaking on behalf of the BASIC nations. 

She further said enhanced mitigation ambition should not meet the same fate as the pre-2020 climate finance ambition. “It has been over a decade since the annual $100 billion pledge, and the world is still waiting for its mobilisation and delivery,” Sharma said.

Climate negotiation experts said developed countries are adding more and more riders to the financing decision. The EU and Australia have raised questions over quality of finance, while the US has asked for financing to be limited to those who are in position to self-finance.

Khosla said the operationalisation of the Paris agreement would be a good enough conclusion to COP26. “We might see some progress on the negotiating text. There could be a time frame provided on Article 6 (carbon credit market) and climate finance. The UK has been pushing for net zero and no coal but a lot more work needs to be done on the financing front,” Khosla said.