U.K. asks India to update climate goals

What is the news? 

Recently, the British Prime Minister and Indian Prime Minister had a meeting. The meeting occurred a few weeks ahead of a United Nations climate change summit in the U.K.

During the meeting, the British PM urged India to update India’s NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) targets, besides they also talked about vaccine certifications and the Afghanistan situation.

What are the key discussions of the meeting?

Updating the NDCs

Being president of COP-26 of UNFCCC, the U.K. is asking all countries to update their NDCs to reflect climate targets for the next few decades. One hundred and ninety three countries filed their first NDCs, but only 19 have so far updated them.

India filed its first NDC in 2016, committing at the time to cut emissions by 33% by 2030 (from 2005 levels). However, the U.K. and the U.S. have been asking India to do more in terms of declaring its second NDC.

They expect India’s promise of installing 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030, and to declare firm deadlines for achieving Net Zero carbon emissions and ending the use of coal for generating electricity, to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

Other discussions

Both nations agreed on the importance of “cautiously opening up international travel”, and the issue of vaccine certification.

Both sides on Afghanistan crisis agreed on the need to develop a common international perspective on issues regarding extremism and terrorism, as well as Human Rights and rights of women and minorities. 

Read more: Why COP26 is important? 

Source: This post is based on the article “U.K. asks India to update climate goals” published in “The Hindu” on 12th October 2021. 

Terms to know:

• UNFCCC