All Pending Issues Should be Resolved at COP26: India

In a bilateral held with India - EU, both sides discussed a wide range of climate issues relating to COP26

Stressing the urgency of strong climate actions, India's Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav on Thursday, 21 October, underlined the need for initiating the process of setting the long-term climate finance for post-2020 and the fulfilment of the goal of $100 billion committed by developed countries.

He was speaking at the bilateral held with European Union's Executive Vice President, European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, wherein both sides discussed a wide range of climate issues relating to COP26, EU-Indian climate policies and bilateral cooperation.

With regards to the upcoming COP26, the annual UN climate change conference to be held from October 31 at the UK's Glasgow, he said, "All important pending issues such as Article 6, Common Time Frame, Enhanced Transparency Framework, etc. should be resolved mutually, taking into account national priorities and circumstances."

Both sides acknowledged that India and the EU should work together to achieve a successful outcome of COP26 to enable full and effective implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

And the Paris Agreement that was signed in 2015 by governments to work towards restricting emissions to keep the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial era.

Yadav also highlighted India's ambitious climate action plans towards a green transition covering priority areas of renewable energy, sustainable transport including e-vehicles, energy efficiency, forest, and biodiversity conservation, etc, a release from the Environment, Forests and Climate Change Ministry said.

Applauding India's leadership on climate actions, Timmermans said that the whole world is in admiration of India's ambitious target of 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

Both sides may explore to further strengthen the bilateral cooperation on climate and environment, especially on ways and means which help in promoting low carbon pathways, the release said.