Climate aid takes centre stage at key UN talks
India asks developed world to provide financial support
At a high-level meeting on climate change hosted by the UN Secretary General António Guterres with select world leaders, climate financing and aid, especially to the developing economies, emerged as the key negotiation point. India, which was part of the discussion, emphasised for the developed world to fund the climate actions of developing economies.
The UN secretary general waved a warning signal and said the upcoming COP26 faces a high risk of failure unless world leaders take stronger measures to stem greenhouse-gas emissions.
“This (meeting) is a wake-up call to instil a sense of urgency on the dire state of the climate process,” said Guterres.
Bhupendra Yadav, Union minister for environment forest and climate change (Moefcc), who represented India in this closed-door discussion, called upon the developed countries to fulfil their promise of the $100 billion per year goal made in 2009.
“The developed countries have collectively emitted more than their estimated emission allowances in 2008-2020 period, they should take greater action on mitigation and provide financial support to developing countries," Yadav said.
He also said there needs to be discussion on whether the scale of resources is commensurate with the scale of the needs of developing countries.
“COP26 should focus on climate finance in scope, scale and speed and transfer of green technologies at low cost,” Yadav said.
The meeting included the COP host the UK, US, China, India, EU nations, along with several developing nations.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after the meeting that too many major economies are lagging too far behind.
“I’ll stress that again, for this (climate negotiations) to be a success we need developed countries to find that $100 billion. The US can deliver on a promise to step up its share of money toward the $100 billion annual goal but we’ve been here before and we’re not counting our chickens,” Johnson said after the meeting.
COP26 will be held in November this year in Glasgow. The last COP was held in Paris in 2015 when the US pulled out from the negotiations under Donald Trump.
Under the new President Joe Biden, the US will rejoin the negotiations. US special climate envoy John Kerry was reported saying ahead of the UN meeting, that the US would deliver more climate aid ahead of the COP conference.
The UN also emphasised that countries need to have more ambitious targets for cutting down carbon emissions.
The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released recently, says that in 20 years, global average air temperature may rise by more than 1.5 degree Celsius, a dangerous threshold. Carbon emissions are the main driver of climate change, besides other greenhouse gases and air pollutants, it said.
“THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES HAVE COLLECTIVELY EMITTED MORE THAN THEIR ESTIMATED EMISSION ALLOWANCES IN 2008-2020 PERIOD, THEY SHOULD TAKE GREATER ACTION ON MITIGATION AND PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES”