India holds firm

Giving a boost to clean energy was widely endorsed at the UN’s COP28 summit in Dubai as 118 countries pledged to phase out fossil fuels and triple the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030. However, India and China — the world’s top coal consumers — abstained from making this commitment, thus resisting the pressure tactics of Western nations. The other initiative that India refused to be a signatory to was the Declaration on Climate and Health. It aims to check greenhouse gas emissions in health systems. The declaration was supported by 124 countries.

As the G20 president, India had earlier this year vowed to triple its renewable energy capacity to 450 GW by 2030 through its national plan. Its tough stand on the issue at the Conference of the Parties aligns with Prime Minister Modi’s reproach to the rich nations in Dubai. Underscoring that India had struck a balance between ecology and economy, he said the country was on track to reduce emissions by 45 per cent before 2030. He emphasised that though India was home to 17 per cent of the global population, its contribution to global warming was just 4 per cent. Thus, justice demanded that nations which had mainly caused the climate crisis due to industrialisation should enable a low-carbon economy in developing countries by transferring climate technology and funds to them.

Since the Global North has been deficient on this score, abiding by the COP28 terms of cutting back on coal-fired power projects is not financially viable for India’s development plans. However, COP28 has seen a step forward towards climate justice as it approved the ‘loss and damage fund’. Now, the moot point is that the developed countries must finally pay compensation that is adequate for the Global South to combat climate change.