COP29 ends with a weak result, India rejects the deal and calls it an optical illusion | India News – Times of India

BAKU/NEW DELHI: The UN climate talks (COP29) concluded on Sunday with a weak outcome on climate finance, prompting rich countries to mobilize only $300 billion a year by 2035 for developing countries from a “wide variety of sources”, including public and private, rather than solely from public finances as required. The move prompted India to reject the document in its current form, stating that the document is “nothing more than an optical illusion”.
While the amount is part of the overall package of $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 from all public and private sources that will help developing countries implement their climate action goals, India, while standing up for the Global South, said the amount reflects the enormous scale of would not tackle climate change. of the challenge the world currently faces.
“The goal is too small, too far away (almost eleven years later). It’s 2035, it’s too far gone. Our 2030 estimates tell us that we will have to make do with $1.3 trillion per year until 2030… The amount that is proposed to be mobilized, but it is a paltry amount. We cannot accept it. We are very unhappy and disappointed with the process and object to the approval of this agenda,” Chandni said. Raina, India’s negotiator, as he expressed the country’s position at the last plenary meeting, amid widespread applause and support from several developing countries.
India sought the floor to speak before the decision was passed, but the financial outcome… New collective quantified goal (NCQG) – was suddenly hammered by COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev.
“We informed the Presidency and the Secretariat that we wanted to make a statement prior to a decision on the adoption. However, this is for all to see. This is staged. We are extremely disappointed by this incident… We absolutely object to this unfair way of adoption,” said Raina, economic advisor to the DEA at the Ministry of Finance, in her intervention.
Post-gavel comments from India and other developing countries, including Malawi, Bolivia, Nigeria and Pakistan, on the Baku outcome were treated as mere minutes by the Azerbaijani Presidency and will be included in the footnote of the outcome. Many observers believe that climate will produce a weak result and India’s rejection, supported by several developing countries, could impact countries’ update next year on their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – climate action targets.
When asked what India’s rejection of climate finance outcomes meant at this point, RR Rashmi, Distinguished Fellow, TERI and India’s former chief negotiator, told TOI that by expressing formal disappointment over the $300 billion NCQG, India was acting as a leader of the Global South. . “It is significant that India and many other diverse groups in the developing world have shown a common and united stand on this issue after a long time,” he said.
However, Rashmi said it is too early to say anything about the next NDCs. “The threat of use of unilateral trade measures by developed countries and domestic policy constraints pose a greater constraint for India,” he said, in an apparent reference to trade barriers such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), that an instrument to set a price by imposing a border tax on carbon-intensive goods, such as iron and steel, aluminum and cement, entering the EU.
Raina pointed out such barriers in her intervention, saying: “The Global South is being pushed to move to low-carbon pathways, even at the expense of our growth. We must face the CBAM measures. There are other measures imposed by the government. the parties in the developed countries to make the transition really not easy. In fact, it is quite difficult to enable such a transition in a very, very competitive, hostile environment that we currently face.
Once CBAM is implemented from 2026, it will put tariff burden on such products of developing countries, including India and China, and affect their trade.

What does the climate finance deal mean at COP29?

1.

General objective for the period after 2025

: $1.3 trillion per year by 2035, from all public and private sources, for developing countries to implement their climate action.
2.

Core Goa

l: Developed countries must mobilize $300 billion per year for developing countries by 2035.

3.

Donor base

: Encourages developing countries to make contributions on a voluntary basis, including through South-South cooperation.
4.

Amendment

: Continue efforts to at least triple annual funding for adaptation measures by 2030 compared to 2022 levels.
5.

Review/ratchet mechanism

: Baku to Belem (host city of COP30 in Brazil) Roadmap to assess progress towards the $1.3 trillion target, with reports in 2026 and 2027.