- India balances development needs with ambitious clean energy efforts.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has criticised developed countries and the European Union for what he described as inadequate support for developing nations to tackle climate change, questioning their record on climate finance and technology transfers.
Speaking at a roundtable during the Berlin Global Dialogue, Goyal said wealthy nations had benefited from decades of carbon-intensive development but had failed to provide sufficient financial assistance to vulnerable countries under international climate agreements. He also questioned the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which imposes carbon-related costs on certain imports.
Goyal Questions Developed Nations Over $100 Billion Pledge
Recalling the 2015 Paris climate conference, Goyal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had helped bring the concerns of the Global South into discussions on climate action. He argued that developed nations had agreed to shoulder a greater share of the financial burden and assist developing countries, including vulnerable island nations.
“At the Paris climate conference in 2015, when the whole world came together, it was Prime Minister Modi who brought the Global South together and encouraged countries to commit to addressing climate change at COP21. It was agreed that the developed countries, who have enjoyed the fruits of messing up the climate for so many decades, will pay a greater price, and will support the developing and less developed countries, as well as island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean…Just $100 billion a year. That was the commitment,” Goyal said.
He criticised the delay in fulfilling the commitment, saying, “Eleven years later, we haven’t seen a nickel or a dime of that. It’s all promises. The larger question that the European Union and CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) have failed to answer.”
Goyal also said developed nations had not adequately addressed the needs of less-developed countries or supported their efforts to reduce emissions.
How The $100 Billion Climate Finance Target Evolved
The annual $100 billion climate finance target originated at the 2009 United Nations climate conference, COP15, in Copenhagen. Developed countries agreed to jointly mobilise the amount by 2020 to help developing nations address climate change.
At COP21 in Paris in 2015, the target was extended through 2025 after the original deadline had not been met. India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change outlined the commitment and its extension in a statement issued on July 28, 2022.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) subsequently reported that developed countries collectively met the $100 billion target in 2022, two years after the original deadline.
However, developing countries continue to raise concerns over whether the available funding is sufficient, how easily it can be accessed and how much is provided as grants rather than loans.
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India Highlights Clean Energy Push And Development Needs
Goyal also highlighted the challenge of meeting India’s development requirements while pursuing climate action. He contrasted India’s per capita emissions with those of developed economies and argued that countries with greater historical emissions should shoulder a larger responsibility.
“I also have to meet the needs of 1.4 billion people. I have to meet their energy needs, their food needs, and ensure that my nation remains secure. Despite all of that, we have one of the world’s fastest-growing clean energy programmes,” Goyal said.
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