India is seeking action in terms of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building

The 27th iteration of the Conference Of Parties (COP27) began in the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on Sunday with the inclusion of 'loss and damage' finance in the official agenda and India is hoping that this will be followed by fair negotiations on it.

Loss and damage is a term used to describe the effects of climate change that are beyond what people can cope with or when there are solutions available but a community lacks the resources to access or take advantage of them. A long-standing demand of poor and developing countries, including India, is for financing or a new fund to handle loss and destruction, such as the money required to relocate people affected by floods. But for more than 10 years, wealthy nations have shunned the idea.

At COP26 in Glasgow last year, high-income countries opposed the idea of a loss and damage financing body and supported a three-year dialogue for funding discussions instead. These countries included the United States and the European Union.

The Indian delegation to COP27 is being led by Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav.

In a blog, he wrote, "Adaptation funding is highly inadequate and loss and damage funding have been almost negligible. Taking note of the situation, India along with other countries had been pursuing adoption of an agenda item on Loss and Damage finance. With the inclusion of this agenda item, India will be engaging constructively and actively on the subject during the course of discussions at COP27 and hoping that fair negotiations on Loss and Damage follow."

"India welcomes adoption of agenda item 'Loss and Damage' at COP27," the Union Minister added.

According to him, financial tools established by the UNFCCC, such as the Global Environment Facility, Green Climate Fund, and Adaptation Fund, are underfunded and unable to mobilise or provide funding for losses and damages brought on by climate change. These channels are difficult to use and take time to access financing. Support for adaptation is very insufficient, and funding for losses and damage has been incredibly meagre.

The minister added that, taking note of the circumstances, India had been working to get a topic on loss and damage finance adopted along with other nations.

India also anticipated that wealthy nations will take action in the areas of climate finance, technological transfer, and enhancing the ability of emerging and underdeveloped nations to address climate change.

"India believes COP27, themed 'Together for Implementation', should turn out to be the 'COP for Action' in terms of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building. The scale of the problem facing the world is huge. Action cannot be delayed and hence concrete solutions must come up and implementation must start with COP27," Yadav said in his blogpost.

The Union Minister also inaugurated the India Pavilion at COP27 with the theme of LiFE, or Lifestyle For Environment, that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of United Nations Secretary-general Antonio Guterres in Gujarat last month.

"The India Pavilion has been set up with the aim to serve to remind the delegates from across the world gathered at COP27 that simple sustainable lifestyles changes can help protect Planet Earth," Yadav wrote in his blog.