India to focus on climate finance, definition clarity at COP27 summit

New Delhi: India expressed its anticipation for significant advancement in the discussions around climate finance, particularly for developing nations, and clarity on its definition ahead of the annual summit on climate mitigation.

Any funding intended to aid in climate change adaptation and mitigation is often referred to as climate finance.

The yearly summit on climate mitigation is slated to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 to 18, 2022.

"As it is a saying that "what gets measured gets done", more clarity is needed on the definition of climate finance for the developing countries to be able to accurately assess the extent of finance flows for climate action. While the Standing Committee on Finance will submit a report on the various definitions, we hope to have good deliberations on this to arrive at a common understanding," a statement put out by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said on Friday, ANI reported.

According to the statement, the interpretation of the term must be consistent with the climate financing commitments made by the nations under the Convention and its Paris Agreement.

According to India, the target of providing USD 100 billion in annual climate money by 2020 and every year after that through 2025 has not yet been met.

"Due to a lack of common understanding, several estimates of what has flown as climate finance are available. While the promised amount must be reached as quickly as possible, there is a need now to substantially enhance the ambition to ensure adequate resource flow under the new quantified goal post-2024," the statement from the ministry said.

Priority must be given to achieving the USD 100 billion annual goals, and wealthy nations must be requested to provide a roadmap, it stated.

The statement further noted that Egypt, a member of the Like Minded Developing Countries and the COP27 presidency, had rightly designated COP27 as the COP of "Implementation".

"India welcomes this step as over the last twelve months the world has seen the widening gap between the statements by developed countries at COP 26 in Glasgow and the reality of their actions."

With a strategy that meets the expectations of developing nations, India is prepared to support the Egyptian Presidency. The two main issues under discussion are adaptation and loss and damage, and advancement on these two topics will complement one another.

Bhupender Yadav, India's Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Climate Change, will head the mission to the UNFCCC's 27th Conference of Parties (COP 27).

According to the statement from the ministry, India is actively involved in the process and supports the government of Egypt's efforts to produce significant results at COP27.

India's announcement at COP26, 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an ambitious five-part "Panchamrit" goal at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in late 2021, including achieving 500 GW of non-fossil electrical generation, generating 50% of all energy needs from renewable sources, and reducing emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030.

India also wants to cut its GDP's emissions intensity by 45%. India finally pledges to have zero emissions by 2070.

India is leading by example by banning the use of various single-use plastics as early as July 2022.

Globally, it is acknowledged that single-use plastic waste has a negative influence on marine environments as well as terrestrial ecosystems. Single-use plastic pollution has emerged as a significant environmental issue that affects all nations.

In order to address carbon mitigation, India is expected to bring up and argue issues relating to climate finance for the developing world, whose per capita emissions are relatively pretty low when compared to the developed world.