Seeking climate finance and transfer of technology from developed countries to developing countries to enable the latter in climate change adaptation will be India’s thrust areas at the upcoming 27th edition of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
In the run up COP27, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav told reporters: "COP27 should be COP for action in terms of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. This is our overall approach.” Being one of the few countries to have achieved its targets in line with the 2015 climate goals set in Paris, India will talk from a position of strength.
Apart from the fact that the annual target of $100 billion of climate finance is yet to be reached, understanding about what constitutes climate finance is unclear. India will also try to figure out the nature of climate finance and draw lines between grants, loans or subsidies, stress on division between public and private finance, and insist on treating adaptation and mitigation finance as equals.
From the broken Copenhagen Accord to the very recent ask at the Glasgow COP, the case of climate fund flow from the developed to the developing world has been under the lens. R Rashmi, Distinguished Fellow, TERI, says, “So far the entire approach to financing has been country led, where the recipient countries face the risk and have to design their own strategies to bear their risks. That expectation needs to change.”
Though the COP27 official website in its goals and vision section emphasises on “facilitated access to meet the needs of developing countries” like Africa, Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, yet the experience till now on walking the talk has been far from desirable.
Antonio Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations, in a pre-COP press conference said, “Clarity about climate finance from the developed world needs. We need to see evidence of how they will double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion dollars in 2025, as agreed in Glasgow. Funding for adaptation and resilience must represent at least half of all climate finance.”
Experts point out loss and damage funding is also expected to be a crucial focus of discussion at COP27. Besides, sustainable lifestyle as introduced at COP26 in Glasgow by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through his LIFE (Lifestyle for Environment) initiative will be also spotlighted.
COP27 is slated to be organised in Sharm el- Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to 18, 2022. During 12 days, countries from all over the world are expected to follow up on COP 26 commitments in the backdrop of Russia-Ukarine war.
In keeping with the times, COP27 is a ‘carbon neutral’ conference with sustainability at its core. The official website states that green hotels, natural gas buses, electric mobility, using renewable energy, sustainable supply chain and no to plastic will be highlights of the COP. The COP will have thematic days on finance, science, youth, decarbonisation, agriculture, gender, water, civil society, energy and biodiversity to include voices of key stakeholders.