India should not take new commitments at COP28 climate talks in Dubai: GTRI

India should make no new commitments at the ongoing United Nations COP28 climate talks in Dubai and continue its green transition without additional guarantees, think tank GTRI suggested on Thursday.

The climate conference will be held in Dubai Expo City from November 30 to December 12.

The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said India has already made significant commitments at the COP27 (Conference of Parties) and the Paris Agreement, in line with its long-term strategy for low emissions and development.

India’s commitment to generate half of its electricity from non-fossil fuels by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2070 is notable.

“India does not need to make any new commitments during COP28. Instead, it can continue its green transition without additional commitments,” said GTRI co-founder Ajay Srivastava.

However, he added that the country’s high methane emissions, especially from the agricultural sector, pose a challenge.

“Any improvement will require a change in cropping patterns, which may take decades of effort. Balancing emissions reduction with the impact on the livelihoods of the agricultural sector is critical,” said Srivastava.

The think tank also suggested that since 70 percent of electricity here is generated from coal power and many major industries rely on domestic power rather than the grid, India needs to make improvements.

“However, India should not agree to an immediate shutdown of coal-fired power plants to ensure energy security. India must emphasize that developed countries are responsible for 89 percent of historical emissions. They subsidized the fossil fuel industry by $1.8 trillion in 2020. ,” it said.

It added that India should advocate broadening the scope of climate discussions to address these interconnected challenges and thus promote a more effective approach to climate action.

It further said that despite fifty years of international efforts, annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have increased by 270 percent, reaching 53.8 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in 2022.

“Rising greenhouse gas emissions underscore the inadequacy of current efforts to achieve the goals of the agreement. Highlighting this will be the focus of COP28,” the report said. carbon dioxide gases after China and the US.

But India should emphasize that its per capita CO2 emissions are “very” low at 1.9 tonnes, much lower than those of the US (14.5) and China (8.9) among all developed countries and China , the country said.

“A large population turns even low emissions per capita into a large total. India cannot be punished for having a large population. COP28 commitments should be linked to per capita emissions and not to a country’s total emissions,” Srivastava said.