UNFCCC COP26

Recently, the UNFCCC COP26 President, Alok Sharma, visited India to discuss India’s implementation of its COP 26 commitments.
He also stated that a mechanism is being put in place to achieve the target of climate financing USD 100 billion by 2023.

Climate Finance

It refers to local, national, or transnational financing—drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing—that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.
The UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement call for financial assistance from Parties with more financial resources (Developed Countries) to those that are less endowed and more vulnerable (Developing Countries).
This is in accordance with the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibility and Respective Capabilities” (CBDR).
In COP26, new financial pledges to support developing countries in achieving the global goal for adapting to the effects of climate change were made.
New rules for the international carbon trading mechanisms agreed at COP26 will support adaptation funding.

Significance:

Climate finance is needed for mitigation because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions.
Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.
Climate Financing recognizes that the contribution of countries to climate change and their capacity to prevent it and cope with its consequences vary enormously.
Hence, developed countries should also continue to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance through a variety of actions, including supporting country-driven strategies and taking into account the needs and priorities of developing country Parties.
Climate finance is critical to tackle the issues posed by climate change and achieve the goal of limiting the rise in the earth’s average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, something the 2018 IPCC report has predicted.

USD 100 Billion Target

In 2009, at the UNFCCC COP15 (held in Copenhagen),
The developed country parties, to achieve meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, jointly set a target of USD 100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.
The climate finance goal was then formally recognized by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties at COP16 in Cancun.
At COP21 in Paris, Parties extended the $100 billion goals through 2025.
After COP26 there was a consensus that developed nations will double their collective provision of adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025, in order to achieve this balance between adaptation and mitigation.

Way Forward

Developed countries must assist and work with developing nations to help them make clean energy transitions and get financing for climate resilient infrastructure, thus, ensuring that the former delivered on the $100-billion goal.
Further, there is a need to sustain a political commitment to raising new finance, besides,

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT

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