Meet climate finance obligations: Indian paper to global community

While the global community displayed an unprecedented speed in ratifying the Paris Agreement, the same is not visible in meeting the climate finance obligations, an Indian discussion paper released at COP24 in Poland said.

From failure to meet commitments by developed countries and deviations in definition of climate finance to issues related to reporting and tracking of climate finance were some of the issues highlighted by the paper drafted by the Finance Ministry.

The paper, which examines the scope, scale and speed required in climate finance, said: "The present scope, scale and speed of climate finance are not only insufficient but also not even being discussed properly."

It added: "Though a quarter of a century has passed, climate finance discussions still lack a precise and adequate system of accounting modalities for financial resources."

The discussion paper prepared by the Climate Change Finance Unit, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance analysed the post-Paris Agreement developments, seriousness of discourse in the international climate finance arena, and the scope, scale and speed needed.

The paper, however, had a disclaimer saying it does not necessarily reflect the views of the Indian government.

On the scale of investment, the paper said the $100 billion quantitative commitment by developed countries at Copenhagen in 2009 "is a meagre amount in size in contrast to the actual needs assessed for developing countries in trillions of dollars".

"We have to be much more serious in this business. Climate finance targets need to be set high in order for climate justice to be delivered for poorer countries and future generations."

The paper finds serious concerns with the various numbers on climate finance reported by the developed countries. Definitions of climate change finance used in various reports were not consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provisions, it said.

"Methodologies used were also questionable," it added.

The highly critical paper said: "The global community displayed an unprecedented speed in ratifying the Paris Agreement. Meeting the climate finance obligations also deserves the same momentum."

--IANS

ravi-mgu/nir