NEW DELHI: India said COP29 in Baku is a historic meeting as it can enable countries in the South, the most vulnerable to climate change, to take ambitious mitigation measures and adapt to severe climate impacts.

At a high-level ministerial meeting on climate finance on Thursday, India’s chief negotiator Naresh Pal Gangwar also reiterated that developed countries should commit to providing and mobilizing at least $1.3 trillion. dollars each year until 2030, through grants, concessional financing and financing without debt incentives. .

“We are at a crucial turning point in our fight against climate change. What we decide here will enable all of us, especially those in the Global South, to not only take ambitious mitigation measures, but also adapt to climate change. This CoP is historic in this context,” Gangwar said at the ministerial conference, according to a statement.

He added that extreme weather events are so frequent and increasingly violent that their impact is felt across developing countries. It is therefore necessary to have increased ambitions in terms of climate action.

“India’s intervention reiterated that developed countries must commit to providing and mobilizing at least $1.3 trillion every year until 2030, through grants, concessional financing and non-profit support. “debt-inducing debts that respond to the evolving needs and priorities of developing countries, without subjecting to growth-impeding conditionalities in the provision of financing,” the statement said.

The declaration also recognizes that such a scenario is vital for moving towards COP30 in Brazil, where all parties are expected to submit their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The statement highlights that the NCQG cannot be transformed into an investment objective when it is a unidirectional objective of provision and mobilization from developed to developing countries. The Paris Agreement clearly specifies who should provide and mobilize climate finance: it is developed countries, he adds.

“Introducing elements of a new goal that fall outside the mandate of the convention and its Paris agreement is unacceptable,” Gangwar said. The press release excludes any possibility of renegotiation of the Paris Agreement and its provisions.

India highlighted that developed countries’ performance on their existing financial and technological commitments had been disappointing.

“The $100 billion was committed in 2009, 15 years ago. We have a common timetable to express our ambitions every five years. There is a similar need for climate finance. We very much hope that developed countries will realize their responsibility to enable increased ambitions and make this CoP29 a success,” the press release said.

The NCQG, a new financial target intended to replace the $100 billion per year of the Paris Agreement, is one of the desired outcomes of the climate negotiations in Baku.

The African Group of Negotiators (AGN) echoed India’s concerns. “We stand firm against attempts to redefine the obligations of the Paris Agreement. The financial commitments of developed countries remain binding. For Africa and other developing countries, the $1.3 trillion is critical to achieving climate adaptation, resilience and emissions reduction,” the AGN President said on Thursday, Ali D Mohamed, during the ministerial meeting.

Oil Change International released a new analysis on Friday which highlights that mobilizing private sector funding for the NCQG may not work. The increase in global investment in clean energy over the past decade has been largely limited to OECD countries and China, with low- and middle-income countries, which represent 42% of the population, receiving only 7% of investments in 2022.

To close these financial gaps, the main solution proposed by the Global North in the NCQG negotiations is to rely on a small amount of subsidized (“concessional”) public financing to attract a much larger amount of private financing. The main studies and proposals discussed generally expect that each dollar of concessional public financing will attract between 5 and 7 dollars of private financing for the energy transition in the Global South.

“Our analysis shows that in practice, each dollar of concessional public financing generates only 85 cents of private financing for energy transition projects. In low-income countries, this amount drops to 69 cents. Thus, an NCQG based on noble objectives of “mobilizing” private financing is likely to lead to massive financing gaps for a just energy transition,” the press release said.

Baku calls for “peace”

The COP29 presidency launched the Baku Call for Climate Action for Peace, Relief and Recovery (BCCAP), a cross-party initiative to address the links between climate change, conflict and humanitarian needs . The initiative is outside the negotiated agenda of COP29.

Azerbaijan launched the initiative in collaboration with Egypt, Italy, Germany, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

“The Baku Call creates the Baku Climate and Peace Action Hub, a cooperative platform designed to facilitate collaboration between national, regional and international peace and climate initiatives to ensure peace-sensitive climate action and ‘Scaling up support and funding for those most vulnerable to climate change. countries also affected by conflict and high humanitarian needs,” the presidency said.

The call was made by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov during the high-level panel titled “Climate and Peace: Enabling Joint Action to Leave No One Behind.” The event brought together ministers and government envoys from various countries in the North and South to develop a strategy to prevent climate-induced conflicts and increase support for climate- and conflict-vulnerable nations with high humanitarian needs .

Through several rounds of consultations over the past six months, the COP29 Presidency has developed, in collaboration with co-leading partner countries Egypt, Italy, Germany, Uganda, UAE United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, solution-oriented responses that build on the climate and peace initiatives championed by previous COP presidencies. He established the Baku Climate and Peace Action Center as a coordination platform.

The Hub will generate results-oriented synergy and foster joint, peace-sensitive climate action under ongoing peace and climate initiatives, namely the COP27 Initiative on Climate Responses for Peacekeeping ( CRSP), the COP28 Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery and Peace (CRRP). ), the German-led Climate for Peace (C4P) Initiative and the climate dimension of Italy’s Mattei Plan for Africa aimed at addressing the needs of countries vulnerable to climate and conflict.

The Baku Call for Climate Action for Peace, Relief and Recovery also introduced interventions against water scarcity, food insecurity and land degradation.