Moving proactively to counter the renewed pressure on coal, India cited the most recent IPCC reports to emphasise that meeting the 1.5 or 2 degree Celsius temperature targets requires the phase-out of all fossil fuels, not just coal.
To combat the renewed pressure on coal, India cited the most recent IPCC reports, emphasising that meeting the 1.5 or 2 degree Celsius temperature targets necessitates the phase-out of all fossil fuels, not just coal.
India’s proposal did not mention coal, but it was a clear attempt to deflect criticism of its continued reliance on coal-based power.
Selective labelling of emission sources, either as more harmful or as “green and sustainable,” even when they are all sources of greenhouse gas emissions, India reportedly argued, had no basis in the best available science.
According to India, the cover text must acknowledge that all fossil fuels contributed to greenhouse gas emissions and call for an acceleration of the global transition to clean energy while taking into account the national circumstances of individual countries.
In a separate intervention, India, with the support of several other countries, blocked the introduction of a proposal by developed countries to focus on a new mitigation work programme on the Top 20 greenhouse gas emitters. Several developing countries are among the Top 20 emitters, but they have no historical obligation to reduce their emissions. These countries argued that any new mitigation work programme should not result in the reopening of the Paris Agreement, which clearly states that countries’ climate commitments must be determined at the national level and not imposed from without.
India has constantly been criticised for not doing enough to curtail its reliance on coal power. Nearly 55 per cent of India’s energy needs come from coal-based power, even after a massive expansion of the renewable energy sector. India has maintained that in keeping with its fast-growing energy requirements, it would continue to depend on coal as a major source of power generation for three to four decades more, even though new coal-fired power plants are unlikely to come up. At the Glasgow climate conference last year, India, with the help of some other countries, was successful in getting a reference to quick “phase-out” of coal changed to “phase-down”.
India also proposed that the cover text take note of the references in the IPCC report on the disproportionate use of the global carbon budget by the developed countries since 1850. It said the cover text should urge all countries to follow sustainable methods of production and consumption and to promote a global mass movement for sustainable lifestyles. India has been arguing that lifestyle changes were necessary to move towards a sustainable future.
India said it also wanted the cover text to “express deep regret” that we continued to live in an unequal world with “enormous disparities in energy use, incomes and emissions”, and stressed that the basic principles of the global climate change architecture — common but differentiated responsibilities with respective capabilities, equity, nationally determined nature of climate commitments under the Paris Agreement — needed to be strongly reflected in the cover text.