Cabinet clears India's stance at climate change meet

 The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the negotiating stand of India at the forthcoming 25th Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The meet is scheduled to be held in Madrid, Spain (under the Presidency of Chile) from December 2-13.

India will look to engage in negotiations with a constructive and positive outlook and work towards protecting its long-term development interests.

India has been ambitious in its actions and has emphasised that developed countries should take lead in undertaking ambitious actions and fulfil their climate finance commitments of mobilising $ 100 billion per annum by 2020 and progressively and substantially scale up their financial support to inform parties for future action through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

India will further stress upon need for fulfilling pre-2020 commitments by developed countries and that pre-2020 implementation gaps should not present an additional burden to developing countries in the post-2020 period.

The Indian delegation will be led by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. The COP 25 is an important conference as countries prepare to move from pre-2020 period under Kyoto Protocol to post-2020 period under the Paris Agreement.

India's approach will be guided by principles and provisions of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement particularly the principles of 'Equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capability' (CBDR-RC), according to an official statement.

It said that India's leadership on climate change has been evident and well recognised across the globe. "Government of India has been undertaking several initiatives to address climate change concerns under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and these initiatives reflect India's commitment and ambition towards climate action", the statement added.

In the recently held Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary General, the Prime Minister announced India's plan on scaling up of renewable energy target to 450 GW and called for responsible action by all on the principles of equity. India has been leading the world in its pursuit of enhanced solar energy capacity through International Solar Alliance (ISA).

In addition to the ISA, two new initiatives have been launched by India as part of its efforts to mobilise world on climate action. These include 'Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure', which will serve as a platform to generate and exchange knowledge on different aspects of climate and disaster resilient infrastructure.

The Leadership Group for Industry Transition has been launched jointly by India and Sweden, which will provide a platform for government and the private sector in different countries to work together on accelerating low carbon growth and cooperation in the area of technology innovation.IANS