CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUES: INDIA’S STAND
- India has been following action-oriented policies to bring rapid development to its people while purposefully addressing climate change. India has been one of the foremost advocates of long-term global cooperation in combating climate change in accordance with the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC.
- Climate change impacts being witnessed today are a result of the total accumulated greenhouse emissions for which the major responsibility lies with the developed nations. Moreover, despite the fast growth registered by some of the developing countries, a large proportion of people in these countries still live in extreme poverty.
- The Indian stance in the climate change negotiations has been guided by the principle of CBDR. India thus believes that the climate change agreement of 2015 should take into consideration a whole gamut of issues including adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity building, transparency of action and support in a balanced manner, and loss and damage in addition to mitigation.
- Mitigation: Historical responsibilities of developed countries and equity in access to global atmospheric resources should continue to be the basis of defining mitigation commitments. The 2015 agreement must ensure that the developing countries be given their fair share of carbon and development space. The contribution of developing countries to mitigation efforts is far greater than that of developed countries and could be further enhanced if developed countries effectively implement and significantly increase their commitments of providing finance, technology, and capacity building support to developing countries.
- Adaptation: Equal weightage has to be given to adaptation as it is essential for reducing vulnerabilities of communities to climate change. This assumes more importance in view of the fact that the developing countries are the most vulnerable to climate change. However, both global action and finance flows have been biased in favour of mitigation. The developing countries are pushing hard to include adaptation in a comprehensive and balanced manner in the 2015 agreement.
- Finance: The responsibility of providing financial assistance to the developing countries lies with the developed countries and this has been clearly articulated in the UNFCCC. India together with other developing countries continue to urge the developed countries to honour their obligation to provide new, additional, and predictable financial support to developing countries in a measurable, reportable, and verifiable manner. In this context ambitious capitalization of the GCF assumes significance. Developed countries have been urged to provide clear timelines and pathways to reach the US$ 100 billion annual commitment made by them in 2010.
- Technology transfer: Technology forms a major component of any move towards combating climate change. The important issue in this regard is that while the developed countries are the frontrunners in clean technology, the developing countries do not possess either sufficient technical capability or the financial resources to develop clean technologies. Appropriate mechanisms for smooth transfer of technology from the developed to developing countries have to be agreed upon. The intellectual property rights price-tag should not come in the way of such technology transfer.
