India-UAE: Joint Statement on Climate Change
Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recognized the urgent need to address the global challenge of climate change through global collective action while respecting the foundational principles and obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on the Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. The leaders committed to enhance cooperation on climate ambition, decarbonization, and clean energy, and work together to have tangible and meaningful outcomes from the 28th Session of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the UAE as the selected host country of COP28 in 2023 and extends his full support to the UAE’s COP28 Incoming Presidency. His Highness President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in turn, congratulated India for its leadership role in the G20.
Both leaders urgently call upon the international community to expedite efforts in order to preserve the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement through the fulfilment of nationally determined contributions and the display of solidarity and support. While firmly upholding the principles and provisions outlined in the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, including the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, considering the diverse national circumstances of each nation.
Both leaders underscore the imperative of achieving ambitious, balanced, and implementation-oriented outcomes at COP28 across all the important pillars of global climate action; namely the mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and means of implementation including climate finance. The leaders call upon all Parties to engage constructively and demonstrate solidarity in the pursuit of these outcomes.
In this context, both leaders highlighted the importance of the global stocktake (GST) and its successful conclusion at COP28, an ambitious exercise designed to take stock of global collective action to achieve the objectives of the Conventions and the goals of the Paris Agreement. They emphasised the importance of implementing a balanced approach to the Global Stocktake at COP28 and called upon the nations to use the outcomes of GST to strengthen their national commitments including those on mobilisation of greater finance and support to the developing nations. They also stressed emphasize the necessity of international cooperation in supporting developing nations to respond effectively to the adverse impacts of climate change, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention and the Paris Agreement.
Both leaders stress on the imperative of fortifying the adaptation capacities of developing countries in the face of climate impacts. Concrete progress is indispensable in developing the global goal on adaptation (GGA), with a focus on critical areas such as transforming food systems, water management, , safeguarding natural carbon sinks including mangroves, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and safeguarding public health.
Both leaders emphasized the necessity of international cooperation in supporting vulnerable communities to respond effectively to the most adverse impacts of climate change, in accordance with the provisions of the Paris Agreement. In this regard, both leaders expressed the need to accelerate efforts to respond to issues of loss and damage and address the adverse effects of climate by urging Parties to operationalise the loss and damage fund and funding arrangements of COP28.
Both leaders noted that investments in renewable energy, green hydrogen, utilization and storage technologies, energy efficiency, and other low-carbon solutions will have the potential to accelerate sustainable economic growth and also foster job creation. The leaders emphasize on the necessity of supporting and deploying all technologies to effectively address and reduce emissions, while ensuring a just transition that enables comprehensive sustainable development. In this regard, both leaders call upon the international community to redouble efforts towards ensuring availability, accessibility and affordability of critical technologies for the developing countries.
Both leaders emphasized the importance of a just energy transition within the framework of climate change, which rests upon three equally significant pillars: energy security and accessibility, economic prosperity, and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions all achieved in a just, and equitable manner. They reiterated that UAE and India unequivocally support universal access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for all, as an integral component of a broader low-carbon development trajectory, recognizing that millions of individuals lack access to energy.
Both leaders underscored the urgent need for developed countries to fulfil the USD100bn delivery plan so that the goal can be met in 2023, to build trust and support the accessibility and affordability of finance to support developing countries in response to the ongoing impacts of climate. They also recalled the obligations under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement and called upon the nations to take action for doubling the climate finance for adaptation to developing countries from the 2019 level by 2025, in the context of achieving a balance between mitigation and adaptation in the provision of scaled-up financial resources.
The leaders call upon international financial institutions (IFIs) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to make tangible progress this year in reforming financial mechanisms, unlocking concessional finance, managing risk, and attracting additional private capital to support nationally determined plans aimed at addressing climate change in developing countries. MDBs must be able to address the shared global challenges of the 21st century and finance global public goods without compromising their role in development financing.
Both leaders acknowledged that sustainable and environment-friendly behaviours of individuals, when counted on a mass scale, can be a significant contributor to global climate action. They recognized the importance of promoting awareness on sustainable lifestyles and nudging individuals towards adoption of environment-friendly choices and behaviors. In this regard, both leaders lauded the Mission LiFE initiative of India. Both leaders expressed hope that the COP 28 agenda will also promote this awareness among people to make the right choices for the environment.
Both leaders affirm the importance and significance of India’s G20 presidency and affirm the G20’s role for fostering and accelerating cooperation in combating climate change, with emphasis on finance and technology as critical enablers, as well as on just, inclusive and sustainable energy transitions.
Both leaders recognize the pivotal significance of COP28 hosted in the UAE in fostering enhanced international cooperation, sharing experiences and knowledge, and forging innovative and effective solutions to confront the challenges posed by climate change.
The UAE and India are united in their determination to ensure the successful outcome at COP28 as an inclusive and action-oriented conference that creates a new momentum for effective climate action and international cooperation to advance the goals of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement.
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