Inter-ministerial talks on climate change begin

NEW DELHI: With regard to the Paris climate conference, the environment ministry has started its inter-ministerial consultation, which would be on five essential pillars — climate finance, mitigation, adaptation, equity and innovation.

The agenda will form the bedrock for the nationally determined contributions (INDCs), which India is likely to submit to the United States by June before the next round of climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany.

“We expect the Bonn meeting to be more decisive than the recently concluded one in Geneva where the negotiating text got longer,” a senior environment ministry official said.

The length of the negotiating text for Paris conference had increased from 35 pages to 85 at Geneva indicating that huge differences still persist among countries on the framework of the new climate treaty, which will be applicable from 2020.

As the negotiations move to a crucial stage, the government has studied what could be India’s carbon emissions in different timeframes and the possible actions to slow down emissions.

The Centre has also got a study done on the impact of climate change and the funding required for the possible adaptation actions.

Senior ministry officials said inputs from dif ferent ministries has been sought regarding the studies and the inter-ministerial discussion has been initiated to develop a cohesive stand on the issues involved.

The discussion will also lead to how much money India needs from the US $10 billion Green Climate Fund for mitigation and adaptation.

Environment minister Prakash Javadekar has already stated that India would like the money to be divided between mitigation and adaptation.

“The discussion will provide definite figure on the money needed for the two crucial aspects of climate change,” the official said.

The outcome of the discussion will also translate into India’s INDCs for the Paris conference.