India Presented a Responsible Stand on Climate Change at COP 26

During the 11^th Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV) at the ongoing COP26, India made a presentation on its third Biennial Update Report (BUR) that was submitted to UNFCCC in February 2021.

Making a statement on behalf of India, Dr. J R Bhatt, Scientist G(Adviser) in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, highlighted the fact that India represents 17% of the global population, its historical cumulative emissions are only 4%, while current annual GHG emissions are only about 5%.

Welcoming the FSV as an opportunity to interact with the Parties and complementing the multilateral process, Dr. J R Bhatt, Scientist G(Adviser) in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, made a statement on behalf of India, highlighting the fact that India represents 17% of the global population, its historical cumulative emissions are only 4%, while current annual GHG emissions are only about 5%.

"This is complemented by the fact that India is particularly vulnerable to climate change. However, India is nevertheless taking several mitigation actions, spanning across the entire economy and society and has progressively continued decoupling of its economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions.", added Dr. Bhatt.

A total of nine countries namely, UK, EU, China, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia asked questions as part of the workshop proceedings. All the Parties commended India’s efforts on the BUR and its climate mitigation actions, including recent announcements of new measures.

The key highlight of the discussion on India’s third BUR was the achievement of 24% reduction in emission intensity of its Gross domestic product over the period of 2005-2014, and the significant increase of its solar programme. In the last 7 years, India’s installed solar energy capacity has increased 17 times.

There were questions about India’s multilateral efforts to combat climate change, including the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). India responded by saying that disaster risk is increasing in developing countries, and this is a step to enhance international cooperation which is much needed in the current times. On the question of India’s increase in forest cover, India responded that people’s participation has played an important role in enhancing its forest cover and that its forests provide all four ecosystem services. India highlighted that it speaks on climate change from a position of strength and responsibility.