COP28 and India

The thirteen-day COP28 conference currently underway in Dubai has generated huge interest across the globe. COP, or Conference of Parties, which is actually the United Nations annual climate change conference, brings together world leaders, ministers and negotiators to discuss the threadbare and agree on how to address climate change. The negotiating parties include governments that have signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and/or the Paris Agreement. COPs are also attended by thousands of representatives from civil society, the private sector, international organizations and the media. For the record, the current conference is called COP28, because it is for the 28th time that this crucial conference is being held. This conference comes at a decisive moment for international climate action. Temperature records are being repeatedly broken and climate impacts felt in unprecedented wildfires, floods, storms and droughts worldwide. A report of the United Nations shows that while efforts have been made in the past few years to meet the challenge, there is actually much more to be done in order to meet the goals of the landmark Paris Agreement. It has been already pointed out that despite the world taking several important steps to curb the climate crisis, its impacts continued to worsen. The Paris Agreement, on the other hand, is alegally binding international treaty on climate change, which was adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris on 12 December 2015 and which came into force on November 4, 2016. Its overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.” However, in recent years, world leaders have stressed the need to limit global warming to 1.5C by the end of this century. While COP28 presents a critical opportunity to put the world on a more sustainable path, India has already made its stand clear, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at its inaugural session, declared the country has already achieved emission intensity-related targets eleven years ago. The Prime Minister also pointed out that India presented an excellent example of the balance between ecology and economy before the world, and pointed out that despite being home to 17 percent of the world’s population, India’s contribution to global carbon emissions is less than four percent. Significant to note, India is one of the few economies, which is on the path to meet NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) targets. That is exactly why India has proposed to host the COP33 Summit in India in 2028.