India, US to work towards new global climate financing target
Sandeep Dikshit
New Delhi, November 11
India and the US on Friday agreed to work towards a new global finance target, also known as the new collective quantified goal (NCQG), which, developing countries say, should be in trillions given the growing costs of addressing and adapting to climate change.
“We also agree to work together in arriving at a new collective quantified goal from a floor of USD100 billion annually for the post 2025 period, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries,’’ said the Indo-US joint statement at the end of the ninth India-US Economic and Financial Partnership meeting co-chaired by visiting US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Given the regulatory overlaps, the meeting was also attended by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.
In this respect, the two sides agreed to pursue a broad mix of public and private financing to facilitate India’s energy transition in line with its nationally determined climate goals and capabilities. The subject is being discussed vigorously at the ongoing COP 27 in Egypt and will be tackled under the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group with US as the co-chair and India holding the G20 Presidency next year.
The meeting also featured a dedicated session on climate finance. In this respect, both sides noted the importance of the evolving role of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) to better address climate change.
The two sides also held productive discussions on a range of subjects, including the macroeconomic outlook, supply chain resilience, climate finance, multilateral engagement, global debt vulnerabilities, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.
In the context of the conflict in Ukraine, they discussed the increased commodity and energy prices as well as supply side disruptions.
Both countries will continue to work to enhance sharing of information to tackle offshore tax evasion and made note of the progress made under the Inter-Governmental Agreement pursuant to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to share financial account information. They will also continue to engage in discussions on full reciprocal arrangement on FATCA.
The US Treasury Department continues to provide technical support to India’s National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF). It includes advice on scaling of debt and equity platforms for the renewable energy sector. It also provides consultation on new environmental, social and corporate governance policies during infrastructure development to meet international standards of private institutional investment.
The two sides are already collaborating through continued technical support for the issuance of municipal bonds for critical urban infrastructure improvements.
They continue to strengthen cooperation in anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) through increased information sharing and coordination, including digital evidence and information for investigations.
