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Meanwhile, a senior U.S. delegation led by Robert Blake, a retired diplomat appointed by U.S. Special Envoy John Kerry to coordinate with India on the climate financing and clean energy partnership, is also in Delhi for talks with the Environment Ministry.
On his previous two visits to India, Mr. Kerry had pressed hard for India to update its climate goals, as only a few countries have done thus far after the Paris climate accord, and also to announce a deadline for phasing out coal and achieving a “Net Zero” carbon emission target.
Mr. Blake’s visit coincides with that of European Union Executive Vice-President for the “European Green Deal” Frans Timmerman, who has been in Delhi for the International Solar Alliance.
Mr. Modi’s decision to attend the summit in Glasgow, where he will fly directly from the G-20 summit in Rome (October 30-31) is seen as a positive sign that India will announce an updated plan at the conference, diplomats said.
India was expected to update its Nationally Determined Commitments (NDCs) to reflect its ambition to install 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030, but the deadline for submitting updated NDCs to the United Nations, ahead of the Glasgow summit, was passed on October 12 without the announcement.
“The truth is, apart from China, India, as a growing economy, and a major contributor to carbon emissions, is also the most important country in terms of ensuring the world meets its deadlines on countering climate change, and all eyes are on the clear time-bound commitments Prime Minister Modi will make at the COP26 in Glasgow,” a western diplomat told The Hindu .
Independent analysts say that the West’s insistence on net zero targets could mean differences will emerge at the meeting in Glasgow.
“For the developed world, significant outcomes would be net-zero pledges and enhanced NDC ambition, hard targets on coal phase-out by countries that have not done so yet, and some progress on methane reduction plans. For the developing world, it would be delivery on climate finance for both mitigation and adaptation, legacy carbon credits, technology transfers, and introducing equity in the net-zero debate. If the developed world continues hammering on the net-zero, coal or methane reduction issues while dragging feet on climate finance, legacy carbon credits, and tech transfer issues, we could end up seeing Copenhagen 2.0,” said Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Fellow, Council on Energy, Environment and Water.
