India joins Brazil-led forest preservation initiative as observer at leaders’ climate summit
India highlighted Brazil’s dual focus on multilateralism and implementation and called on the global community “together” to ensure that “the next decade of climate action is defined not just by targets but by implementation, resilience and shared responsibility based on mutual trust and justice.”
The national statement made by India’s Ambassador to Brazil, Dinesh Bhatia, reiterated India’s determination “to protect and preserve the architecture of the Paris Agreement, built on the foundation of the Agreement”, while calling on developed countries to make greater efforts to reduce emissions faster and to support developing countries in taking climate action. The national declaration also detailed India’s climate actions and measures to transition to a low-carbon development path.
The two-day Leaders’ Climate Summit, held ahead of two weeks of UN talks due to logistical constraints, marked an unofficial start to COP30.
Detailing India’s contributions to the global effort, the statement highlighted the increasing share of clean or non-fossil fuels in the electricity mix (currently almost 51 percent), reducing the emissions intensity of its economy and expanding its forest and tree cover. As well as emphasizing its commitment to collective, cooperative and collaborative action based on multilateralism, demonstrated through initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance, which partners with France.
At the same time, India pointed out that “global ambition has fallen short… NDCs of many countries have fallen short.” India said that while developing countries continue to take decisive action on climate, developed countries, which allocate disproportionately to the global carbon budget, need to do more. Developed countries “must accelerate emissions reductions and provide the promised, adequate and predictable support,” Bhatia said. The declaration calls on developed countries to step up efforts to reduce emissions. Bhatia, who issued the national declaration for India, said: “Given the rapid depletion of the remaining meager carbon budget, developed countries need to achieve net zero much earlier than they declare and invest significantly to achieve net negative emissions.” Since the Paris climate summit COP21, leaders’ summits have become an almost regular feature of the annual UN climate talks. The summit, attended by heads of state and government, is an innovation aimed at providing high-level political momentum and direction to the two-week climate negotiations. This is also a time when leaders highlight initiatives, collaborations, and future plans. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attended several leaders’ climate summits, including COP21 (Paris), COP26 (Glasgow) and COP28 (Dubai). India has been represented by the environment minister at the leaders’ summit many times. There have also been cases where India did not attend the leaders’ summit, such as COP29 in Baku. This will be the first time that the ambassador, India’s highest government representative in the host country, will make a statement on behalf of the Prime Minister and the government at the Leaders Climate Summit.
