COP28: India refrained from signing on global renewable energy pledge

India refrained from signing the pledge to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 as the draft text mentioned phasing out coal, which New Delhi doesn't support, according to sources in the Indian delegation.

India and China both on Saturday refrained from signing the pledge at the COP28 climate summit to triple the world's renewable energy capacity by 2030 even though New Delhi already committed to it as part of its G20 presidency.

During the UN's climate talks here, 118 countries committed to tripling the global renewable energy capacity by 2030 in a highly endorsed initiative.

A source in the Indian delegation said that India refrained from signing the pledge as the draft text mentioned phasing out/down coal, which New Delhi doesn't support.

India has been asking countries to agree to phase down all fossil fuels rather than a narrower deal to phase down coal.

The source said that India has already delivered a deal on the tripling of renewable energy capacity at the G20 Summit held in Delhi in September and that the pledge taken by a group of countries was outside the ambit of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The pledge called for phase down of unabated coal power and putting an end to the financing of new coal-fired power plants.

"Unabated" fossil fuels generally refer to the continued use of coal, oil and gas without efforts to curtail emissions. Nonetheless, a universally accepted and precise definition of this term is currently lacking. PTI UZM GRS ZH

(This story was produced as part of the 2023 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews' Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.