Lok Sabha Question No. 358 (STARRED), answered on 2019-01-04
Subject: Climate Change Conference
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: (ADV.) JOICE GEORGE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO . 358

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.01.2019

## Climate Change Conference

## *358.   ADV. JOICE GEORGE:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  participated  in  the  climate  change  conference  at  Katowice, Poland recently and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  the  conference  was  mandated  to  finalize  the  modalities,  procedures  and guidelines, called the 'Paris Rulebook' and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the conference finalized the rulebook for implementation of the Paris Agreement,  which  was  unanimously  adopted  by  all  member  countries  and  if  so,  the details thereof along with the stand of the Government on various issues discussed in the conference;
- (d) whether the Paris Agreement with the adoption of the said rulebook is well on its way to being operationalised; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof along with the role to be played by India in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

- (a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (A)  TO  (E)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 358  BY  ADV.  JOICE  GEORGE;  SHRI  MUTHAMSETTI SRINIVASA RAO (AVANTHI) ON CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

(a) to (e) An inter-ministerial delegation of Government of India participated in the 24 th Session of  the  Conference  of  the  Parties  (CoP  24)    to  the  United  Nations  Framework  Convention  on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Katowice, Poland on 02 nd - 15 th December 2018. One of the mandates of the meeting was finalization of guidelines for implementation of Paris Agreement in the post-2020 period. Decisions on various elements under Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP) were adopted in CoP 24. Agreement on Article 6 relating to the cooperative approaches (market mechanisms and non-market approaches), could not reached among Parties and further discussions  on  it  would  continue  in  2019.  The  adopted  decisions  recognizes  different  starting points of developed and developing countries and need for support to developing countries for implementation  of  Paris  Agreement;  provides  flexibilities  for  developing  countries  and  gives consideration to principles of equity, Common  but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) etc.

The  Paris  Agreement  is  to  be  implemented  in  post-2020  period  in  line  with  the  guidelines adopted under Paris Agreement Work Programme. Under the Paris Agreement, India submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) outlining eight (8) goals for 2021-2030, including (i) to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level, (ii) to  achieve  about  40  percent  cumulative  electric  power  installed  capacity  from  non-fossil  fuel based  energy  resources  by  2030  with  the  help  of  transfer  of  technology  and  low  cost international  finance  including  from  Green  Climate  Fund  (GCF),  (iii)  to  create  an  additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. The other targets pertain to sustainable lifestyles; climate friendly growth path; climate change adaptation; climate change finance; and capacity building and technology.

India engaged positively and constructively in the negotiations and protected its interests. India also provided leadership on issues of particular interest to developing countries like provision of finance, technology development and transfer, capacity building, equity and differentiation. The salient features of the key decisions are placed at Annexure I.

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## Annexure I:

## Salient Features of key decisions

- i. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC): guidance preserves the nationally determined nature  of  NDCs  and  reflects  the  principles  of  the  Paris  Agreement  while  recognizing  that developed  countries  have  to  display  leadership  for  achieving  the  objectives  of  the  Paris Agreement.
- ii. Adaptation:  the  guidance  on  adaptation  recognizes  the  adaptation  needs  of  developing countries and includes provisions on providing support for adaption activities of developing country parties.
- iii. Transparency  Framework:  guidelines  under  transparency  framework  mandate  developed countries to  report on all aspects  including mitigation, support provided including finance, technology development and transfer and capacity building while self-determined flexibilities are accorded to developing countries.
- iv. Global Stocktake (GST): the guidance on GST includes assessment of collective progress on all the pillars of climate action (mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation) towards achieving the long-term goals under the Paris Agreement. India expressed its reservation on the GST decision regarding the need for considerations on equity in output of GST process, which  is  an  important  consideration  in  GST  process  so  that  vulnerabilities,  problems  and challenges of the poor and marginalised are addressed.
- v. Compliance Mechanism: the compliance mechanism will be facilitative and respect national capabilities and circumstances and will involve Parties at every stage of the process.
- vi. Climate  Finance:  the  adopted  guidance  requires  developed  countries  to  provide  detailed information biennially on the projected levels of public financial resources to be provided to developing countries. The climate finance guidelines further require developed countries to account for finance provided to developing countries including reporting on how it is over and above Official Development Assistance (ODA). The work on setting up a new collective finance goal also progressed and Parties agreed to initiate in November 2020, 'deliberations on setting a new collective quantified goal from a floor of USD 100 billion per year'.
- vii. Technology framework: the overarching framework for technology recognizes the need for enhanced support towards operationalization of the framework and comprehensively covers all stages of technology development and transfer.

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