PM Modi pitches for 2028 edition of COP in India

Refraining from fresh commitments to contain global temperature rise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at COP-28, offered to host the 33rd edition of the annual summit due in 2028 in India.

He said that developed countries ought to be “vacating the carbon space” before 2050 and made a pitch for the world’s nations to join India on its “Green Credit initiative,” which was a “non-commercial” effort to create a carbon sink.

A proposal to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) must be approved by other signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Typically, venues for future COP are only decided two years in advance. Were India to host the summit, it would be for the second time after 2002 when it hosted the 8th edition, and the event used to be a relatively somber affair with only small ministerial delegations in attendance.

“A small part of humanity has ruthlessly exploited nature. But the entire humanity is bearing the cost of it, especially the inhabitants of the Global South. The selfishness of a few will lead the world into darkness, not just for themselves but for the entire world,” he said at the high-level segment of the summit that saw leaders and heads of state from several countries make statements on their countries’ response to climate change.

Though Mr. Modi described the Green Credit scheme as “non-commercial,” a notification by the Environment Ministry last October, outlining the scheme described it as an “innovative market-based mechanism designed to incentivise voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors, by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies”.

The global Green Credit scheme referenced on Friday expects to generate “credits” for plantations on waste or degraded lands and river-catchment areas, to rejuvenate and revive natural ecosystems.

Mr. Modi, who was part of at least three public engagements on his one-day visit, underlined India’s commitments made at Glasgow, in COP-26, of cutting the emissions intensity of India’s GDP by 45% and increasing the share of non-fossil fuels to 50% by 2030, and achieving net zero by 2070.