PM Modi seeks action on climate finance, transfer of technology

Ahead of the G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday sought “action on climate finance and transfer of technology” if the world’s top 20 countries want to pursue their targets on climate action to curb the dangerous consequences of climate change caused by global warming.

“Many countries of the Global South are at various stages of development and climate action must be a complementary pursuit. Ambitions for climate action must be matched with actions on climate finance and transfer of technology,” Modi wrote in an essay shared by the government.

The Prime Minister’s call for action is once again a reminder of rich nations’ failure to provide $100 billion per year on climate finance as they pledged in the Paris Agreement of 2015 and comes two months ahead of the next UN climate summit in the UAE.

Despite such pledges, the actual fund flow from the developed world not only remained a trickle, but also came with conditions not to the liking of the developing block. The poor and middle income countries also want delinking of climate finance from existing aids and grants, but the rich nations are not in favour of such a move.

For many nations, securing the financing necessary to spur their own transition to a more sustainable future can’t happen without this promised support.This includes action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to the inevitable impacts of climate change like frequent and severe droughts, floods and storms.

Under India’s G20 presidency, a major conference for the poor and middle income nations was organised with the title of 'Voice of Global South Summit', which witnessed participation from 125 countries.

“This was an important exercise to gather inputs and ideas from the Global South. We believe there is a need to move away from a purely restrictive attitude of what should not be done, to a more constructive attitude focusing on what can be done to fight climate change,” Modi said, noting that India contributed its share of climate action.

The Prime Minister said a global ecosystem for clean and green hydrogen would emerge from the Indian presidency, along with a Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre.

“In 2015, we launched the International Solar Alliance. Now, through the Global Biofuels Alliance, we will support the world to enable energy transitions in tune with the benefits of a circular economy,” he noted.