Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav held bilateral meetings with Ministers from countries including Scotland and the UK on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the COP 26 Climate Change Summit, highlighting India’s commitment to fight climate change and stressing on the necessity of adequate finance from rich nations to attain global climate goals.

“India and the UK can play a crucial role in the fight against climate change and both countries agreed to work together to reach a transparent and inclusive negotiated climate outcome at Glasgow,” Yadav tweeted following his meeting with Lord Tariq Ahmad, UK Minister for South Asia, the United Nations and the Commonwealth at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The Indian Minister had pointed out, at a meeting of Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) on Tuesday, that climate finance cannot continue at the levels decided in 2009. It should be at least $1 trillion to meet the goals of addressing climate change and there should be a system to monitor climate finance as there is for monitoring mitigation, he said.

India, Brazil, South Africa and China (BASIC countries), at the beginning of the Summit, had also asked for a road-map for providing $100 billion annual funding, promised to developing countries in 2009, for the next five years.

The UK government echoed India’s concerns about adequate finance at another event at the Summit.

Need for resources

UK Treasury chief Rishi Sunak assured that his government was providing fresh financing to help poorer countries deal with climate change, but he underlined that public investment alone wasn’t enough.

The UK called on the world’s financial industry to provide resources for greener investments that would help the world meet its climate goals.

The Indian Minister also met Scotlands Minister of Economy and Finance, Kate Forbes.

“On behalf of the Indian delegation, thanked the Scottish administration for holding the event so professionally and the excellent hospitality extended by the people of Scotland,” Yadav tweeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already made significant commitments at the COP 26, earlier this week. These include achieving carbon neutrality by 2070, achieving 500 GW installed capacity through non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, fulfilling 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewables by 2030, reducing 1 billion tonne of carbon emissions from the total projected emissions by 2030 and reducing carbon intensity by 45 per cent in its economy.