China, U.S. and India absent at U.N.’s Climate Ambition Summit

Source: The post is based on the article “China, U.S. and India absent at U.N.’s Climate Ambition Summit”  published in The Hindu on 22nd September 2023

What is the News?

The Climate Ambition Summit (CAS) held in New York, as part of the United Nations General Assembly has been concluded.

What is the Climate Ambition Summit?

Convened by: The United Nations Secretary-General at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Purpose: The Summit represents a critical political milestone for demonstrating that there is collective global will to accelerate the pace and scale of a just transition to a more equitable renewable-energy based, climate-resilient global economy. 

Criteria for speaking at the summit: The criteria for countries to be considered for a speaking slot at the summit were that they would be expected to 1) present updated pre-2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (as agreed in Glasgow) 2) updated net-zero targets 3) energy transition plans with commitments to no new coal, oil and gas 4) fossil fuel phase-out plans 5) more ambitious renewable energy targets 6) Green Climate Fund pledges and 7) economy-wide plans on adaptation and resilience.

What are the key highlights from the Climate Ambition Summit?

The summit was marked by the absence of major economies whose actions significantly influence the future of global emissions.

For instance, China, the U.S and India — which collectively account for about 42% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are the top three emitters in that order — were all absent from the summit.

India’s neighbours Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan were among the listed speakers at the summit.The European Union, Germany, France and Canada also attended the summit.

What is India’s last Climate pledge?

India last updated its climate pledges in 2022.Its pledges were: 1) reducing emissions intensity — or the volume of emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) — by 45% from 2005 levels by 2030, a 10% increase from what it agreed to in 2015 2) meet 50% of its electric power needs from renewable, non-fossil fuel energy sources — up from 40% committed at the Paris agreement and 3) create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of Co2-equivalent [GtCO2e] through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.