Developing world needs more funding to combat climate change, PM Modi tells COP28

Developed countries need to provide several trillion dollars of “affordable and accessible” climate finance to help developing nations like India move to a low carbon future and adapt to climate change impacts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the recent COP28 UN Climate Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Speaking at the Conference of Parties 28 (COP28), a meeting that reviews the progress being made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, Modi said India hopes to see “concrete results” from developed countries towards agreeing a New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG).

In 2009, developed countries pledged to raise USD 100 billion annually by 2020 under the NCQG to provide finance for developing countries to prepare for and adapt to climate change. Although the rich nations have yet to meet this annual target, COP28 aims to start discussions about a new, post-2025 goal for climate finance, with the goal of agreeing a new target to succeed the minimum floor of USD 100 million by the end of 2024.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photograph: Government of India

Modi also said the Green Climate and Adaption Funds – international funds that provide grants and loans for developing countries to invest in low-emission projects to counter climate change and help them adapt to the harmful effects of climate change – need to be “replenished immediately”.

“We all know that the role of all the countries of the Global South, including India, has been very less in climate change,” said Modi in an address to COP28. “But the ill effects of climate change are much greater on them. Despite lack of resources, these countries are committed to climate action.”

He added: “Climate finance and technology are essential to meet the aspirations of the Global South. The countries of the Global South expect the developed countries to help them as much as possible to combat climate change. This is both natural and justified.”

Modi said India had presented a great example to the world in how to strike a balance between ecological protection and economic development, and was one of only a few countries that is on track to meet its NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions). These are commitments from each country to reduce their domestic greenhouse gas emissions to help meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting the increase in mean global temperature to 1.5 °C to reduce the effects of climate change.

“Despite India having 17 per cent of the world’s population, our share in global carbon emissions is less than only four per cent,” said Modi. However, he added that India has “walked the talk when it comes to climate action”, including achieving its emissions-intensity targets 11 years ago, and hitting its non-fossil fuel targets nine years ahead of schedule.

“And India has not stopped at this,” he added. “Our target is to reduce emissions intensity by 45 per cent by 2030. We have decided that we will increase the share of non-fossil fuel to 50 per cent. And we will also continue to move towards the goal of net zero by 2070.”

However, Modi said India wanted to see developed and richer countries “definitely eliminate” their carbon footprint by 2050 (i.e. reduce their carbon emissions to Net Zero), and called for developing countries like India to be given a “fair share” of the global carbon budget – the remaining amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted globally while maintaining a reasonable likelihood of limiting the rise in mean global temperature to 1.5 °C.

The energy transition, he said, “should be just, inclusive and equitable”, and the Global South, including India, “must have access to equitable carbon and development space to achieve sustainable development”.

In apparent criticism of developed countries that have produced the most carbon emissions in the past, which scientists say has led to an increase in extreme climate events like floods and heatwaves in developing countries, he added: “We don’t have much time to correct the mistakes of the last century. A small section of mankind has exploited the nature indiscriminately. But the whole humanity is paying its price, especially the residents of the Global South.”

Modi also called on developed countries to transfer technologies to help developing and poorer countries prevent and mitigate the impacts of climate change, and for all nations to rise “above our selfishness and transfer [low carbon and clean energy] technology to other countries”.

However, Modi also called for all countries to work together, cooperate and support each other to combat climate change. “This thinking of ‘only my welfare’ will take the world towards darkness,” he said.

Modi also called on all countries to support and join a new Global Green Credit Initiative launched by India, aimed at incentivising voluntary action to protect the environment and combat climate change by individuals, communities and businesses.

Under the scheme, a global, online inventory of degraded waste land and damaged river catchment areas will be established, and people, communities, voluntary organisations and businesses can voluntarily work to rejuvenate and revive the natural ecosystem at this sites through activities like tree-planting. In return for carrying out environmentally-positive actions, participants would receive tradeable ‘Green Credits’. The process of registering areas suitable for environmental restoration, verifying the positive environmental actions taken, and issuing and trading Green Credits will be digital on a newly launched website.

It is also hoped that the portal will collate global ideas, experiences and innovations around environmental protection, to encourage global exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practice in planning, implementing and monitoring environmentally-positive actions.

“This is a campaign that moves beyond the commercial mindset of carbon credits and creates a carbon sink with public participation,” Modi told other heads of government at COP28. “I hope you will definitely connect with it.”

For more information on the Global Green Credit Initiative click here.