COP30: Colorful Belém Protests, Discussions On Climate Finance And Trade, India’s Updated NDC In The Works

Bengaluru: Belém broke into a riot of colour over the weekend. On Saturday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of this city on the banks of the Amazon river in Brazil. One estimate put the number of people here at around 70,000. As part of the March Unificada — or the Great People’s March — demonstrators walked 4.5 kms through the city.

The demonstrators demanded climate justice. And that governments and corporations that had disproportionately caused global warming provide reparations for these impacts to vulnerable and marginalised communities: communities which have not contributed to this but are still bearing the brunt of climate change.

According to news reports, some protestors even dressed in black, to mourn the death of fossil fuels with coffins of coal, oil and gas.

This is the first time in four years that protests have been permitted in a COP-organising country.

The spirit continued on Monday, November 17. Brazilian indigenous peoples led a march to the COP30 venue. The Global March, as it has been called, was accompanied by drumbeats, music, singing, dancing and a clear call to prioritise the people of the Amazon, as The Wire’s Soumashree Sarkar reported from Belém on Monday.  

Here are some more happenings at COP30, the UN climate change conference that is currently underway at Belém – from Saturday when Week 1 wrapped up, and Monday, when Week 2 began. This period marks a crucial half-way point for the conference.

Focus on climate finance 

Climate finance dominated discussions at the COP on these days – and rightly so. 

The third high-level ministerial dialogue on climate finance took place on Saturday. In his plenary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell urged developed countries to “give more”. 

In his plenary on Monday too, Stiell spoke about money and the importance of climate finance.

 In seven days, nations rallied around a global plan to quadruple sustainable fuels, unlocked new waves of green industry and started preparing a pipeline for new adaptation investment.

This reflects “an irrefutable fact driven by this process: a new economy is rising, faster than forecasts,” Stiell said.

“The good news – last year alone, more than 2.2 trillion dollars flowed into renewable energy – that’s more than the GDP of over 180 countries,” he added. “This real-world progress is not a nice-to-have. It is mission-critical. In this new era, much will depend on bringing our process closer to the real economy, to speed up implementation, and spread its vast benefits to billions more people.”

 Stiell also urged countries at COP30 to speed up progress in negotiations.

 Developing countries insist on better, accessible climate finance

 On Saturday, India spoke on behalf of the Group of Like Minded Developing Countries and raised several concerns that developing countries have about climate finance. The existing goal on climate finance – the “New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)” – is “sub-optimal” and a “deflection” of the responsibilities of developed countries in mobilising and ensuring climate finance, India said. The existing goal – which was set at the last COP – says that developed countries must provide at least $300 billion per year by 2035 to fund climate action in developing countries. Developing countries have said that this amount just doesn’t cut it.

 India highlighted clauses on climate finance listed in Article 9 of the Paris Agreement, which deals with climate finance and its modalities. 

Article 9.1 specifies that developed countries shall fund climate action in developing countries; Article 9.3 lays down that finance efforts of developed countries has to increase over time, and Article 9.5 says that developed countries have to provide biennial communications detailing their financial contributions. The deficiency in reporting on mobilised funds by developed countries is a concern, India said in its statement on Saturday.

 This Article is something that several countries also referred to in the high level segment on Monday where member parties and groups of countries gave their statements. 

 Palau, speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States, said that adaptation is a priority for the group. The country called on parties at COP30 to operationalize Article 9.1 and at least triple annual outflows from climate finance.

 “The adaptation finance gap continues to grow,” Palau said. “The recent Adaptation Gap Report found that developing countries need USD $350 billion a year by 2035 to adapt to climate change. To address this gap developing countries are calling for at least tripling adaptation finance to USD $220 billion by 2030.”

 Iraq, speaking on behalf of the G77 countries, and China also highlighted the importance of scaling up climate finance saying that this was at the core of priorities for this Group. Implementation of the Global Goal on Adaptation is crucial, Iraq said.

The 1.5 degrees celsius limit is 'non-negotiable'

Several small island states were also clear on the need for climate finance and that the 1.5 degrees celsius was “non-negotiable”.  

Solomon Islands, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean that is threatened by sea-level rise due to climate change, said that climate finance was not “goodwill”. The success of this COP depends on transparency among other things, the country added: “The 1.5 degrees celsius limit is non-negotiable. It is a matter of survival.”

We must leave Belem with agreements to keep this target within reach, Tuvalu said in its statement at the high level segment on November 17. New, accessible and predictable grant-based finance is critical, Tuvalu said. Providing public finance is grounded in Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, it said. 

India: 'Will declare updated NDC'

In its statement at the high level segment on Monday at Belem, India said that it would declare its revised, third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC version 3.0) for targets till 2035 and also its first ever Biennial Transparency Report. 

However, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav, who delivered the statement for India, did not specify when the declaration will come.   

Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs are national climate action plans that each country promises under the Paris Agreement. These plans outline how countries plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help meet the global goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degree celsius above pre-industrial levels and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement requires that NDCs are updated every five years with increasingly higher ambition, taking into consideration each country’s capacity. 

Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) are documents that list out country-specific information on progress towards NDCs, policies and measures, levels of financial, technology development and transfer and capacity-building needs, among others.

India has not submitted its third NDC yet, which was due in February this year. The UNFCCC called for late submissions by September but India did not make that deadline either. India has also not submitted any BTR so far – the first one was due by December 31, 2024.

 India also said that developed countries must reach net zero before announced dates, and fulfill their obligations under Article 9.1 of the PA and deliver new, additional and concessional climate finance estimated to be in trillions of dollars. Means of implementation must be adequate, accessible, affordable and free from restrictive intellectual property barriers, India added.

India is third-largest methane emitter

According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Methane Status Report launched on Monday, India retained its position as the third largest emitter of methane in the world. Methane is a greenhouse gas that increases global warming. The major sources of methane are livestock and agriculture. 

India contributes 12% of global agricultural methane. Methane produced during rice cultivation in India is projected to rise by 8% by 2030. India has not adequately addressed its methane emissions – our NDCs do not mention this, or ways of addressing this.

 Negotiations and debates

 Negotiations are still ongoing at the Belem COP. Some draft texts have come in but there’s still much to be done and finalised. So much so that Brazil, on Monday, extended negotiations into the night according to news reports. 

There’s been debate on whether there will be a cover text or cover decision at COP30. A cover text is a summary of all the political decisions taken at a COP. André Corrêa do Lago, President of COP30, has previously said that COP30 will not have a cover text. However, on Saturday, he said that if countries want it, it will happen. 

Finance and trade are still points of much debate. Unilateral trade measures such as the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism are something developing countries including India have expressed displeasure about. But it looks like the EU may not back off on this. On Monday too, the EU in its statement during the high level segment talked about carbon pricing and said it was an important step to take to tackle carbon emissions.

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