India says it does not support an ex-ante review INDCs

With the two-week annual climate summit here reaching its half-way mark, India today said that it does not support an ex-ante review of its intended nationally determined contributions as it is an issue of sovereignty.
One major issue to be resolved is the structure of countries' intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs), which are their domestic plans of action to combat climate change.
The text of the elements to go into the INDCs is under discussion as India and other developing countries are negotiating for more of an adaptation focus, including solid financial commitments, and technology sharing points.
Susheel Kumar, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment who is the interim head of the Indian delegation, said the report on India's INDCs is set to be submitted to the UN in June 2015 but the timeline for all countries has not yet been discussed.

Questions of a review process for these INDCs is a sticking point to be worked out in the negotiations.
Kumar sais India does not support an ex-ante (before the event) review of its INDC because it is an issue of sovereignty.

The EU and South Africa are among parties who support implementing some sort of review mechanism into the 2015 Paris agreement.
They have demanded that the actions submitted by nations under the 2015 agreement be reviewed for their adequacy and equity-based burden-sharing; and if need be, reviewed to meet the requirements of keeping global temperatures under check.
Regarding the status of the talks at the end of this week, Kumar said, "It's a work in progress."

"We are quite hopeful that Lima will be more non-partisan and keeping in mind the global divide, it is time such a non-partisan view emerges. If this view doesn't get formed in Lima, we don't have much time," he said.
Kumar said "the skeleton" of INDC requirements should be constructed before countries leave Lima.
The details of an adaptation focus and issues of "loss and damage", when a country is past the point of seeing any benefit from adaptation, will come between Lima and Paris.
In a statement, the Climate Action Network International said: "The EU, Canada, the US, New Zealand and Australia deleted detailed references in the draft text related to a review or a revisit of their existing commitments in the pre-2020 period."

It will certainly be a hurdle that developing countries will push hard to clear, it said.
Delegations seem to be optimistic about the talks and are hoping the momentum will carry though once ministers arrive at the negotiating table.
Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar will represent India at the talks.