COP29: India reiterates issue of unilateral trade measures, impact on developing countries

Insisting that development was the “overriding priority” of countries in the Global South, India’s Environment Secretary Leena Nandan, speaking at one of the meetings at COP29 here, said if the developed countries indeed wanted to discuss ‘just transition’, they should be willing to discuss it in the broader sense including the inequities in the global climate discourse, and not just in the NDCs and the National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

“At COP27 (in Sharm el-Shaikh in 2022), it was decided that the issues of just transition are not very narrow but are linked to the wider economic and social aspects of transition… The denial of international equity narrows our domestic options and poses further challenges to our objectives of achieving immediate, rapid and sustained access to development opportunities and affects the most vulnerable communities in our countries the most,” Nandan said.

“In the spirit of international cooperation, that is embedded in this multilateral process, our discussions here must include discussions on key enablers and dis-enablers of global just transition. Let us discuss unilateral coercive measures that restrict trade flows and restrict countries from accessing equitable development opportunities. Let us discuss the question of intellectual property rights on green technologies that hinder the free and scalable access to developing countries. Let us discuss the carbon debt that is owed by developed countries to the developing countries for their overuse of global carbon budget. Monetisation of this carbon debt would be in trillions,” she added.

“Let us discuss the science that guides all climate discourse, whether it is based on considerations of global equity and environmental justice. Let us discuss how the inequity continues to be perpetuated in the climate discourse. Let us discuss the choices of people in developed countries being sacrosanct versus the costs imposed on the citizens of developing countries due to transition. Let us discuss the promotion of sustainable lifestyles that we all agreed to in UN Environmental Assembly in Nairobi this year. A frank discussion of these issues and their inclusion in the decisions taken at COP29 will be at the cornerstone of building trust that will unlock a truly equitable and just global transition,” she said.

Nandan said provision of climate finance was one of the most critical enablers for just transition, and developed countries had failed in their responsibility of putting adequate money on the table.

Earlier in the day, without referring specifically to the carbon tax imposed by the European Union on certain imported goods, Nandan raised the issue of unilateral trade measures once again, and said the negative impacts of such measures on developing countries was something that needed to be discussed at climate conferences.

At the start of the COP29 meeting last Monday, China, speaking on behalf of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) group of countries, had made a similar request and tried to get this issue included on the official agenda. The request was deflected at that time and was referred to more consultations with all parties.

In one of the ministerial rounds of meetings on Monday that was discussing higher ambition for reducing emissions in the pre-2030 period, India brought up the issue again in its statement.

“Pre-2030 ambition requires enhancement of international cooperation, in terms of positive and measurable results such as identification of cost-effective and scalable mitigation opportunities. However, international cooperation has been uneven, with some countries shifting to unilateral measures resulting in passing off financial burdens of mitigation actions on to developing countries,” India said in its statement.

“There is a need to recognise the negative impacts on developing nations due to such unilateral trade measures in the context of climate change,” India said.

Though it did not single it out, India was indirectly referring to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) introduced by the European Union last year. CBAM seeks to impose a tax on a certain class of goods imported in the EU, if the production of those goods had an emission footprint higher than the emission standards in EU. Ostensibly a step to control emissions, CBAM has the effect of making the goods from developing countries like China or India non-competitive in the European markets.

The developing countries complain that the costs of emissions reductions are in a way getting shifted to them.

India also pointed out that significant barriers existed in the transfer of technologies related to clean energy, something that was against the provisions of Paris Agreement, and said COP29 must facilitate easy and affordable transfer of relevant technologies to the developing countries.

“New technologies and solutions are needed to drive the transition to a low-carbon economy. However, innovation in areas like clean energy, carbon removal etc is still in early stages and there are barriers to scaling and transfer to the developing countries. India is calling attention to the importance of knowledge and technology transfer without intellectual property rights restrictions for green technologies and we are emphasising the need for overcoming IPR barriers,” India said.

“COP29 should come with tangible and meaningful outcomes on deployment of technology to the developing countries. We are particularly keen that the Technology Implementation Program should be able to address the significant gaps in technology deployment by enabling access to affordable, adaptable, and locally relevant technologies,” it said.