India's Strategic Climate Push at COP29: Bold Actions & Global Cooperation

India has asserted a strong stance at the COP29 Climate Summit in Baku, focusing on innovation, finance, equity, and cooperation. Highlighting substantial gaps in climate finance and technology transfer, India urged developed countries to commit to ambitious climate goals, fostering trust and avoiding a burden on developing nations.

India took center stage at the '2024 Annual High-level Ministerial Roundtable on pre-2030 Ambition' during the COP29 UN Climate Change Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The country spotlighted four priorities for global climate action, including boosting innovation and technology transfer, emphasizing the central role of climate finance, advancing international cooperation, and building mutual trust, as per a statement from India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Leena Nandan, Secretary of the Environment Ministry and Deputy Leader of the Indian Delegation, discussed the 2024 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Synthesis Report. She highlighted that between 2020 and 2030, expected CO2 emissions would consume 86% of the remaining carbon budget. She emphasized that the current period is critical for elevating climate actions globally.

India emphasized that ambitious commitments from major emitters are vital for reducing emissions economy-wide. India stressed the importance of equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, urging for climate solutions that consider justice and do not burden developing nations due to the inadequacies of pre-2020 mitigation efforts.

The need to enhance innovative actions via unhampered technology transfer was reiterated, pointing out the early stages of clean energy and carbon removal technologies. The ministry called for removing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) hurdles on green technologies to enable their widespread adoption, especially in developing nations.

Highlighting climate finance, India identified a significant funding gap hindering climate action, particularly in developing countries. India's statement pointed to the first global stocktake's findings of a large financial shortfall needed for clean energy deployment and disaster resilience infrastructure. Developed nations are urged to cover the costs fully, to prevent transferring undue burdens onto developing regions.

Declaring COP29 a 'milestone' for climate finance, India pressed advanced economies to honor commitments in providing equitable financial assistance. Enhanced international cooperation is needed to achieve significant climate mitigation goals, with criticisms aimed at unilateral measures that unfairly shift financial responsibilities to less wealthy nations.

India used the platform to highlight the damaging effects of unilateral trade measures and called for building mutual trust among nations as the foundation for climate change action. The Ministry concluded that, despite concerns in the 2024 NDC Synthesis Report, there are hopeful signs of emissions peaking before 2030, with potential improvements in the next NDC updates anticipated.

(With inputs from agencies.)