India must align climate efforts with partners after US exit from Paris accord: Parliamentary panel

New Delhi: India, being a major player in the fight against climate change, must take responsibility and align its efforts with other countries following the US exit from the Paris Agreement, a parliamentary panel said in a report on Tuesday.

In its report tabled in Rajya Sabha, the department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change said India should be concerned about climate change as it has a large population.

"The committee is of the view that climate change is a global concern and India, being amongst the most populous countries, needs to be concerned about that... We must cooperate with other countries globally as climate summits after the Paris Agreement have shown slow progress," the 31-member panel headed by BJP Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita said.

"While taking progressive steps, India must correlate her efforts with other countries," it said.

The panel expressed concern over the US administration withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and its impact on climate funding for developing countries.

"Under these circumstances, India, being a large country and a major player in climate change mitigation, must take responsibility and work towards achieving its goals," the panel said.

Since returning to office, US President Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement and the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP), a multilateral initiative launched at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 to help coal-dependent developing countries shift to renewable energy.

Apart from the US exit, geopolitical issues such as wars, trade disputes and the failure of developed countries to deliver climate finance have weakened trust among nations and made climate action more difficult.

Developed countries, historically responsible for most greenhouse gas emissions, were supposed to present a new financial package to support climate action in developing nations at the UN climate conference in Azerbaijan last year.

However, they pledged only USD 300 billion by 2035, far below the estimated requirement of at least USD 1.3 trillion annually from 2025.

Countries are now required to submit their next round of Nationally Determined Contributions, or climate plans, for the 2031-2035 period this year.

The goal of these climate plans is to limit global temperature rise since the start of the industrial revolution to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the key target of the 2015 Paris Agreement.