Rich Nations Must Fund Climate Action: Bhupender Yadav

New Delhi, Oct 16 (PTI) Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday said developed countries should take the lead in climate action and provide financial and technological support to help developing nations combat climate change.

He said that India has led global climate action over the past decade under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, with other countries also making contributions.

"Addressing climate change is a collective responsibility, but developed nations must take the lead and provide financial and technological support," Yadav said at an event organised by Times Now.

At this year's annual UN climate conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan in November, countries are required to reach an agreement on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) -- the new amount developed nations must mobilise every year starting in 2025 to support climate action in developing countries.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted in 1992, high-income, industrialised countries are responsible for providing finance and technology to help developing countries combat and adapt to climate change.

These countries, including the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and European Union (EU) member states, such as Germany, France and the UK, have historically benefitted from industrialisation and contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions.

At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, these developed countries pledged to jointly provide USD 100 billion each year by 2020 to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. However, this target has not been fully met, leading to a significant finance gap. This shortfall has eroded trust and hindered climate action in developing countries.

In May, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) claimed that developed countries had met the long-standing USD 100 billion-a-year promise by providing nearly USD 116 billion in climate finance to developing countries in 2022, with nearly 70 per cent of the money given in the form of loans.