Low funding agreed at climate pact may prompt reworking of targets: CEA

On the concluding day of the UN Climate change conference, Conference of the Parties (COP29), which brought together around 200 nations in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, a tiny transcontinental landlocked country sharing borders with West Asia and eastern Europe, a decisive agreement was signed to finance developing countries to fight climate change by raising USD billion annually by 2035. It was on November 24, 2024.

On the eve of Union Budget presentation on February 1 by India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran, asserted that the small mobilisation target of USD 300 billion annually by 2035 is just a 'fraction' of the estimated requirement of USD 5.1-6.8 trillion by 2030. He was speaking after Nirmala Sitaraman tabled the Economic Survey 2024-25 in Parliament.

Nageswaran said that the new financial package agreed at the 2024 UN climate conference in Azerbaijan to support climate action in the developing world 'presents little optimism'. With countries required to submit their next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) or climate plans for the 2031-2035 period this year, the economic survey said the "funding shortfall may lead to a reworking of the climate targets".

According to the Paris Agreement signed in 2015, countries are encouraged to strengthen their climate targets every five years. Nageswaran said domestic resources will be the key to climate action amid the lack of support from developed countries. Therefore, resources for meeting development challenges may be affected, undermining progress toward sustainable development objectives and "compromising the integrity of international climate partnerships", he said.

The new climate finance package is "out of sync" with the needs of the critical decade when action is required to keep the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement within reach, he said. It underscores the unwillingness of affluent, developed nations to assume their equitable share of the responsibility to address emission reduction and mitigate climate change impacts on vulnerable populations in developing regions, he said.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adopted in 1992, high-income industrialised nations, which have historically been responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, are required to provide finance, technology and capacity-building support to developing and low-income economies to help them cope with a warming world. These countries include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and European Union member states such as Germany and France.

Hisham Mundol, chief advisor at the Environmental Defense Fund, said rich and industrialised countries are largely responsible for the climate crisis, as they have contributed 75 per cent of historical emissions. "It stands to reason that they should therefore pay 75 per cent of the costs of green transition and environmental impacts. That is the essence of climate justice," he said.

Mundol added that countries like India should not slow down their climate progress. National priorities such as expanding renewable energy and improving energy efficiency are not only beneficial for India but also for the planet, he said.

Neeraja Nitin Kudrimoti, Associate Director at Transform Rural India, said the lack of climate finance not only jeopardises global climate goals but also places a heavier burden on developing countries, especially the most vulnerable rural communities. As a result, these communities often focus more on mitigation efforts while neglecting urgent adaptation needs, such as preparing for droughts, floods, and other climate disasters. Without sufficient support to build resilience, they remain trapped in a cycle of vulnerability, she said.

In 2015, countries came together to limit global warming to "well below 2 degrees Celsius", aiming for 1.5 degrees Celsius. Fast forward, the world has already heated up by 1.3 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era, largely due to burning fossil fuels. To limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the UN's climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says emissions must peak by 2025 and drop 43 per cent by 2030 and 57 per cent by 2035. But current policies point to a hotter future - around 3 degrees Celsius warming by 2100.

Even if every country fulfils its climate promises or NDCs, emissions would only shrink by a weak 5.9 per cent by 2030. Developed nations, the biggest historical polluters, are pushing developing countries to do more to meet the Paris Agreement goals. Yet, these same nations often fall short of what's required to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

On the other hand, developing countries argue their emissions are far smaller and they are already grappling with poverty and growing climate disasters. They insist they need financial and technological help to transition to clean energy without compromising their development.
(With inputs from PTI)