India to focus on climate in new role as G-20 presidency

Bengaluru – India formally assumed its role as chair of next year’s Group of 20 countries on Thursday, placing climate at the top of the group’s priorities.

Programs to encourage countries to transition to clean energy, sustainable livelihoods and finance to combat the impact of global warming will be some of the key areas India will focus on during its presidency, experts say says the house. Some say India will use its new position to boost climate confidence and act as a bridge between the interests of developed and developing nations.

The country, which has made considerable progress towards its climate goals in recent years, is now one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

Comprised of the world’s largest economies, the G-20 chairs each year with another member country responsible for the group’s agenda and priorities. Experts believe India will use the “big stage” of her G20 presidency to advance climate change and development plans.

“We will focus on addressing the current and future challenges posed by climate change,” said Samir Saran, president of the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank. The ORF underpins the T-20, a group of think tanks from 20 member countries whose participants converge alongside the G-20.

Saran said India will seek to help the fight against global warming, such as the flow of funds from rich industrial countries to emerging economies. The promise of $100 billion a year for clean energy and climate change adaptation has yet to materialize. When Recent Pledge to Vulnerable Countries to Have Funds for Loss and Damage Caused by Extreme Weather.

He added that India would also use the presidency to push forward. Flagship “Mission Life” program Encouraging a more sustainable lifestyle in a country that will soon become the most populous country in the world.

When resigning Indonesia held the presidency last month and symbolically ceded the presidency to India by handing the gavel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the opportunity to promote the program, turning sustainable living into a “mass movement.” He said he could make a “great contribution” by changing it to . “

RR Rashmi, Distinguished Fellow of the Energy Institute in New Delhi, said lifestyle influences “do not get enough attention in the global debate”. He added that the issue “may get some attention” in what would be a successful G-20 for the Indian government, but critics say the focus on lifestyle change is to gain credibility. He says it must be supported by policy.

India has strengthened its climate qualifications. More ambitious due to recent national targets to transition to renewable energy than the targets submitted to the United Nations as part of the Paris Agreement Limit warming to the temperature target set for 2015.

Analysts say climate ambition and actions by countries, including India, not on temperature target.

While many of India’s largest companies are investing heavily in renewable energy both domestically and globally, the Indian government plans to invest $33 billion in coal-based power plants over the next four years. We are preparing to do so.

and UN climate conference last month, India, now the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has proposed phasing out all fossil fuels and reiterated the need to revamp global climate finance. Countries say they cannot meet their climate change goals and reduce their carbon emissions without significant funding from wealthier countries, a claim they dispute. chanting.

Navroz Dubash, author of several UN climate reports and a professor at the Center for Policy Studies, said the key question for many countries is “how emerging economies will meet their development needs, and how they will respond to low-carbon pathways.” Will you do it?” Like India, it points to the need for external investment.

As the G-20 presidency, India is “well positioned to state what is needed to develop the remaining carbon budget in a way that does not lock it up,” Dubash added. The world can emit emissions while limiting global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels.

“Developing countries make a compelling case that green industrial policies are in fact highly dependent on public funding to put the problem into practice,” Dubash said. $2 trillion needed annually by 2030 Raising $1 trillion from domestic sources and the rest from external sources such as developed countries and multilateral development banks to help developing countries reduce emissions and address the impacts of a warming climate. Procured from funding sources.

“This public money can also be a way to get private money. This is what the United States has done. The Inflation Reduction Actadded Dubash.of US flagship climate package passed earlier this year Includes incentives to build clean energy infrastructure.

Experts say the G20 will also scrutinize alternative avenues for obtaining climate finance.Groups can potentially remove leaves The Bridgetown Concept Proposed by the Prime Minister of BarbadosMia Mottley, raises significant funding from multilateral development banks and international financial institutions to help countries adapt to climate change and transition to cleaner energy.

ORF’s Saran said India’s G-20 Presidency will help move forward the conversation on the initiative. Developing countries are often charged higher interest rates when borrowing from global financial institutions. Salang said realigning global finance to make renewable energy more affordable in developing countries is key to curbing climate change.

The idea has recently gained traction among developed countries, most recently with French President Emmanuel Macron expressing his support.

“In the future, the majority of emissions will come from developing countries,” Sarang said. says.

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Follow Sibi Aras on Twitter. @sibi123

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