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BAKU: India will call for early adoption of the definition of climate finance to bring transparency in the process of its mobilization and continue to engage constructively in all negotiations at the 29th session of the UN climate conference (COP29), beginning here on Monday, said the country’s environment secretary Leena Nandan.
“Transparency and predictability within climate finance mechanisms are paramount,” Nandan told TOI ahead of the 12-day mega climate talks, where over 190 countries are expected to adopt a new post-2025 finance goal to mobilise adequate finance for helping developing countries implement their updated climate actions — both mitigation and adaptation.
Widely dubbed as ‘finance COP’, the COP29’s success will depend on whether the countries would be able to raise the floor of annual climate finance from the existing $100 billion to $1 trillion as a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), even as the rich nations faltered *majorly* on the previous target. The road to a new goal appears to be quite tough at this stage, specifically after Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election as he had always been opposed to the Paris Agreement and any of the decisions taken by the Joe Biden administration under *the pact*.
“It is important for us that the discussion at COP29 adheres to certain principles during finalisation of the NCQG,” said Nandan while stressing on its alignment with principles of the UN Convention (UNFCCC) and its Paris Agreement.
Sharing the country’s broad strategy at COP29, she said, “India will continue to engage positively and constructively in all negotiations while safeguarding its key interests, keeping in view common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) of developed and developing countries; flexibilities for developing countries; and consideration of foundational principles of the convention and its Paris Agreement.”
*The environment secretary, who will be here along with the minister of state for environment and climate change Kirti Vardhan Singh to lead key negotiations next week*, said India’s engagement would also keep in view the leadership by developed countries in “providing means of implementation and support in terms of finance, technology transfer, and capacity building to developing countries”.
An inter-ministerial delegation, comprising officials from environment, power and new & renewable energy ministries, *has arrived here to take part* in different tracks of negotiation including issues concerning carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
On the carbon market, Nandan said, “On the matters related to Article 6, there was some progress at Bonn. However, discussions on some important items such as emission avoidance have been deferred. The challenges will be to build consensus on the question of whether the market-based systems should be centralised or decentralised.”
On the country’s negotiating stand, she said, “India will once again make a strong case for reflecting equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), climate justice, and sustainable lifestyles in the decisions at COP29.”
Her remarks assume significance as it means India will *be* strongly opposed to any move of developed nations to dilute the UN Convention’s basic principles that put bigger responsibilities on rich nations to not only substantially reduce their carbon emissions but also contribute to climate fund.
Reminding rich nations of their responsibilities ahead of the climate talks, Nandan said, “India emphasises that the Paris Agreement provides a pathway for developed nations to take lead in their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, while supporting developing nations (in terms of finance, technology transfer and deployment and capacity building), and while creating a framework for transparent monitoring and reporting of parties (countries) climate actions.”
It is widely believed here on the sidelines that Trump’s move after assuming his charge as US president in Jan may also impact countries’ plan to update their respective climate action targets — called the nationally determined contributions (NDCs), ahead of the COP30 in Brazil next year.