New Delhi: India and the United Kingdom (UK) have agreed to strengthen climate initiatives and further their green partnership, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said Friday. At a bilateral meeting with a delegation from the UK led by Foreign Minister Liz Truss, Yadav said India will support the UK COP Presidency.
“Had an engaging bilateral with the UK delegation led by foreign minister Liz Truss. Both sides agreed to strengthen climate initiatives and further our green partnership. Assured India’s support for UK COP Presidency, wishing COP26 would be the COP of action and implementation,” the minister tweeted after the meeting.
The UK will host the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.
COP26 holds significance this year as it is expected to discuss the status of the climate finance promises made by the developed nations to the developing nations. India has time and again maintained that it is suffering because of the mistakes of others and is not responsible for climate change.
It has also reiterated that the countries responsible for climate change should finance what they have committed to and make technology available at an affordable cost.
Under the Copenhagen Accord, the developed countries committed to a goal of mobilising USD 100 billion a year by 2020 to help the developing countries mitigate climate change.
Under the Paris Agreement, India has three quantifiable nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which include lowering the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent compared to the 2005 levels by 2030, increasing the cumulative electricity generation from fossil-free energy sources to 40 per cent by 2030 and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to three billion tons through additional forest and tree cover.
