{"id":20115708,"date":"2023-05-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=115708"},"modified":"2023-05-22T07:13:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T01:43:48","slug":"what-is-india-bringing-to-g20-on-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/what-is-india-bringing-to-g20-on-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"What is India bringing to the G20 table on climate?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite dire warnings from scientists and an appeal by the UN Secretary General for G20 countries to take the lead in curbing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the Indian government has so far kept talk of any specific action to combat climate change out of the G20 agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India took over the presidency of the G20 \u2013 the grouping of the world\u2019s 20 biggest economies, which collectively account for 75-80%<\/a> of global GHG emissions \u2013 in December 2022. At the transition of the presidency from Indonesia to India, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, said<\/a> the challenges of “climate change, terrorism, and pandemics can be solved not by fighting each other, but only by acting together”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite diplomatic pressure on India from developed countries to revise its net-zero target to 2050 to help slow global warming, officials in India remain committed to a 2070 deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate at the G20 meetings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

India has hosted a series of ministerial meetings during its G20 presidency so far, with environment minister Bhupinder Yadav welcoming delegates from the United States and several EU countries. According to officials of more than one delegation, who spoke on condition of anonymity since the suggestions were \u201cinformal\u201d, they suggested that India is in a position to advance its net-zero year to 2050, and that an announcement to this effect by the Indian prime minister at the G20 summit scheduled for September would be \u201ca huge thing\u201d. Indian officials talked of \u201cpressure by developed countries\u201d in this regard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, none of this came up in the formal talks. Amitabh Kant, India\u2019s G20 sherpa, dismissed the idea and told The Third Pole he had \u201cnot seen, heard or experienced any such pressure\u201d. However, Sanjay Vashisht, head of Climate Action Network South Asia, confirmed that there has been renewed pressure on India to advance its net-zero target year. He told The Third Pole: \u201cIndia was under pressure to [announce] net-zero before [the 2021] Glasgow COP and when 2070 was announced, it did defuse the international pressure for a while, but expectations were that India should renew its net-zero to [an] earlier year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pressure is part of an effort to end the differentiation between developed and developing countries, according to Vashisht. While India has managed to maintain this distinction in climate talks, using the argument of \u201ccommon but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities\u201d \u2013 a pillar of the UN climate convention<\/a> \u2013 he said there has been \u201crenewed pressure to erase this line once again\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bureaucrats who spoke with The Third Pole said India was unlikely to make any specific climate commitments at the G20 forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RR Rashmi, who headed the Indian government\u2019s delegation to UN climate negotiations for many years and is now with think tank The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), told The Third Pole: \u201cIn my view, the net-zero question is not something that G20 would even attempt to address\u2026 There is really nothing on offer within G20 to induce India to revisit its net-zero dateline. It is more likely that the issue will be discussed and decided within UNFCCC [the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change] where the national commitments are to be taken into account both in the short run (2030) and the long run (2050).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n