Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday delivered his address at the UN Climate Change Conference for 2023 (aka COP28) in Dubai, talking about adding green credit to the “health card” of planet Earth. He also proposed hosting the 2028 edition of the Conference of the Parties climate summit.
Highlighting that India was among the few countries in the world on track to fulfil their climate pledges, Modi launched a ‘Green Credit Initiative’, focused on creating carbon sinks through people’s participation.
Participating in multiple high-level events on the second day of COP28, the prime minister said that rich nations should completely reduce their carbon footprint “well before” 2050 and give all developing countries their fair share in the global carbon budget.
He also urged countries to deliver a concrete outcome on finance to help developing and poor nations combat climate change at COP28.
Addressing the high-level segment for heads of state and governments, Modi said that the Green Credit Initiative was a pro-planet, proactive, and positive initiative, which went beyond the commercial mindset associated with carbon credits.
“[Green credit] focuses on creating carbon sinks through people’s participation and I invite all of you to join this initiative,” Modi said, stressing that the world did not have much time to correct the mistakes of the past century.
This initiative is similar to the Green Credit Programme, notified in India in October. It is an innovative, market-based mechanism designed to reward voluntary environmental actions in different sectors by individuals, communities, and the private sector.
The Green Credit Initiative involves creating an inventory of degraded wastelands, which can be utilised for planting by individuals and organisations. Participants undertaking environmentally positive actions will receive tradable green credits. The entire process, from registration to plantation, verification, and issuance of green credits, will be digitised.
If India’s proposal to host the UN Climate Change Conference in 2028 (or COP33) is accepted, it would be the next big global conference in the country after the G20 Summit in September this year.
India hosted COP8 in New Delhi in 2002, when countries adopted the Delhi Ministerial Declaration, calling for efforts by developed countries to transfer technology and minimise the impact of climate change on developing countries.
Modi, along with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, launched LeadIT 2.0, an initiative aimed at co-developing and transferring low-carbon technology, which would also offer financial support for industry transition in developing nations.
Addressing a session on ‘Transforming Climate Finance’, Modi said that India expected concrete and real progress on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), a fresh post-2025 global climate finance target to better meet the needs of developing countries.
Rich nations pledged in 2009 to raise USD 100 billion annually by 2020 to assist developing countries in combating and adjusting to climate change. Despite extensions to 2025, these nations have not met this commitment.
COP28 aims to establish the groundwork for a fresh post-2025 global climate finance goal, succeeding the USD 100 billion target. Countries aim to finalise this new goal by COP29 in 2024.
Modi also said that there should be no shortfall of money in the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund and that these should be immediately replenished. The Green Climate Fund, proposed at the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, began raising money in 2014; but it has not come even close to its goal of raising USD 100 billion annually.
The Adaptation Fund is a UN-backed fund that provides grants and loans to help developing countries adjust to climate impacts.
On day one of COP28, countries clinched an early deal on the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund, with several nations, including the host United Arab Emirates, Germany, United Kingdom, and United States of America, pledging contributions, totalling more than USD 400 million.
Asserting that India had presented a great example to the world of striking a balance between development and environment conservation, the prime minister said that India was among the few countries in the world on track to achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions or the national action plans to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the guardrail to avoid the worsening of climate change impact.
Modi was the only leader to join COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber on the stage along with the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Steill at the opening plenary. He also shared the stage with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and met a number of other world leaders at the summit.