Govt gives ex post fact approval to India's negotiating stand at Poland climate summit

The government Wednesday gave its ex post facto approval to India's negotiating stand at the recent climate change summit in Poland.

The 24th Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Katowice in Poland during December 2-15 and the Indian delegation was led by Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan.

"This is in continuation to the earlier approval dated November 28, 2018," an official statement said. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its ex post facto approval to the Indian delegation's approach.

The key focus of the summit was to finalise guidelines for the implementation of the Paris Agreement in the post-2020 period.

At the summit, negotiators from nearly 200 countries finalised a set of rules that will make the 2015 Paris deal to curb global warming operational in 2020.

The outcome of the talks in the mining city of Katowice is to limit the rise of global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius.

The official statement said India's approach was guided by principles and provisions of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, particularly the principles of Equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capability (CBPR-RC).

"India reiterated its commitment to the Paris Agreement and highlighted its leadership during the COP-24 by reuniting its promise to implement the Paris Agreement fully in a collective manner," the statement added.

It said that in line with India's traditional ethos of protecting the environment, the government has taken several initiatives to address climate change concerns and these initiatives reflect India's commitment towards climate action.

The push for renewable energy leading to achieving about 74 GW of installed renewable energy capacity, including about 24 GW from solar, leading the world in its pursuit of enhanced solar energy capacity through the International Solar Alliance and energy efficiency measures are some of the examples, it said.

"It is, however, important to ensure that the actions of developing countries are supported by sustained and adequate means of implementation, including finance, capacity building and technological support, by developed countries.

"The adopted guidance operationalises the obligation of developed countries in providing means of implementation to developing countries and requires developed countries to provide detailed information to bring clarity on projected levels of climate finance. Parties have also agreed to initiate the work on setting up the new collective finance goals post-2020 from the floor of USD 100 billion," it added.

The statement said the country's long-term interests have been protected but also added that India has, however, expressed reservations on the Global Stocktake (GST) decision regarding the need for considerations of equity in output of GST process as per the mandate of the Paris Agreement to ensure that vulnerabilities, problems and challenges of the poor and marginalised are addressed.