Action on climate change delayed due to developed nations: Govt

In its fourth biennial report submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Union Environment Ministry has said developed nations' reluctance to share technologies and funds as agreed in the Paris agreement has delayed India’s response to take steps to combat climate change. 

“The responsibilities, obligations, and commitments of the developed countries on providing climate finance to the developing countries under the UNFCCC and its Paris agreement have consistently not been met. India looks forward to climate specific grants or concessional loans, predominantly from public sources of funding, with appropriate balance between mitigation and adaptation and based on India’s articulation of its needs and development aspirations,” the report said.

India mentioned that even in the UN Climate Summit (COP27 & COP28) it was noted that developed nations failed in their goal to jointly mobilise $100 billion by 2020 for developing nations to combat the impact of climate change. 

The report said given the size of India’s economy and vulnerability to climate change, the country’s financing needs for climate action were pertinent. “India’s climate action is mainly financed by domestic resources as flows from developed countries have fallen far short of what is needed to combat climate change,” it said. 

Technology transfer is a critical component of climate change mitigation. India mentioned that the lack of technology transfer has forced the country to rely heavily on domestic resources and stretch national capacity, slowing its efforts to achieve critical climate objectives.

“On the demand side, access to relevant, affordable, and scalable technologies is often limited due to high costs, lack of infrastructure, and regulatory barriers. On the supply side, intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes can act as a barrier to technology transfer, restricting access to technologies, especially for developing countries like India,” the report said. 

It further said India needed to build capacity in various sectors that includes climate science and impact research. "Further, to adequately respond to the impacts of climate change, India needs to focus on strengthening its knowledge systems to better understand climate risks and improve adaptation strategies across sectors. Institutional capacity building is fundamental for India to effectively tackle climate change,” the report added.