India Demands Rise In Climate Finance To $1 Trillion In COP26 Summit

The minister laid stress on the strength of developing countries as fundamental in the UNFCC negotiations to preserve the interest of the Global South in the fight against climate change

New Delhi: Calling out for an increase in finance climate, Union minister for environment, forest, and climate change Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday sought the cooperation of the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) to protect the interests of developing countries, and urged that climate finance cannot continue at the levels decided in 2009 and needs to be raised.

Speaking at the Ministerial meeting of the LMDC held on the sidelines of COP 26 in Glasgow, Yadav said climate finance to be increased to at least $1 trillion to meet the goals of addressing climate change.

Yadav laid stress on the unity and strength of LMDC as fundamental in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations to preserve the interest of the Global South in the fight against climate change.

What are priorities areas for developing nations?

Countries in the meeting included India, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Yadav urged LMDC countries to work closely to protect the interests of developing countries, including the need to ensure a balanced outcome with equal treatment to all agenda items including finance, adaptation, market mechanisms, response measures, and decisions on the delivery of transfer of environment-friendly technologies.

While focusing on the need for recognition of the current challenges faced by developing countries the minister said, it required intensified multilateral cooperation, not intensified global economic and geopolitical competition and trade wars.

The minister asked the LMDC members to support the global initiatives India has pioneered, including the International Solar Alliance (ISA), Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), and the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT).

The minister also appreciated the efforts of the Third World Network (TWN) for its support to LMDC and expressed the need to ensure resources to TWN.

These countries have stressed the need to ensure that the voices of the LMDC countries are heard loud and clear. The developed countries must provide means of implementation to developing countries in terms of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. They highlighted about the empty promises of the developed countries and the inability to deliver the $100 billion per year by 2020. They also called upon the speedy finalisation of the Paris Rulebook.

(With inputs from ANI)