COP28 President, Sultan Al Jaber referred to India’s commitment to multilateralism and leadership on global cooperation at a special forum of G20 Presidency on Sunday. The event was held in Abu Dhabi to align the vision of the G20 and that of COP28, with both leaderships committed to driving strong outcomes around adaptation, mitigation, finance and means of implementation, a statement from the COP Presidency, UAE said.

Jaber praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to multilateralism and reminded delegates that, under Modi’s guidance, countries representing 85% of the global economy have agreed to COP28’s global goal of tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, the statement by UAE said.

He also acknowledged the critical need for a “new paradigm” in climate finance to ensure every country across the Global South can adopt low carbon development and a fair and inclusive global energy transition.

“Unmet promises like the $100 billion pledge must be fulfilled. The green climate fund must be fully replenished. Adaptation finance must be doubled. And the fund for loss and damage must be fully operationalized at COP28,” said Jaber. In 2009, at COP 15, developed countries pledged $100 billion ( a year) in climate financing for developing nations starting 2020, which has still not been delivered.

“The broader climate finance landscape must be transformed. International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and multilateral development banks (MDBs) urgently need to reframe their mandates to meet growing climate needs. More concessional funding is essential to attract more private capital. We need smart policies to ensure the efficiency, integrity and equity of voluntary carbon markets. And we need innovative models of blended finance to combine catalytic and private investment that can be deployed in emerging and developing economies,” he added.

The clean technologies that are taking off in the north must be accessible and affordable across the global south, Jaber told G20 delegates. He also called for rebalancing of climate finance to focus on adaptation alongside mitigation, noting that currently “for every $10 spent on mitigation, only $1 goes to adaptation.”

Jaber’s address to the G20 Presidency comes shortly after the Fifth Meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Transitional Committee on Loss and Damage concluded with agreement on a list of recommendations for implementing the Loss and Damage Fund, which will be taken forward at COP28.

HT reported on November 6 that the Transitional Committee on Loss and Damage reached an agreement on operationalising the Loss and Damage fund late on Saturday night in Abu Dhabi but with the US objecting to the outcome.

The final text was adopted late on November 4 night but US and developing countries had several reservations to the text. The US wanted to withdraw support because it insisted that the text should make it clear that contributions to the fund are voluntary in nature. Developing countries said the funding arrangements are very weak and take away from the historical responsibility of rich nations.

Al Jaber recapped the agenda for COP28, which, he told delegates will be an opportunity to “show that multilateralism still works”.

He said it was time to “replace discord with solidarity…let’s bring positivity to climate deliberations and restore hope through united climate action.”

Operationalising the loss and damage fund and setting out an energy pathway to keep the Paris Agreement goal of containing global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius (over pre-industrial levels) are among key parameters to determine the success of COP28. Al Jaber said that COP28 would “frame climate action as an opportunity for growth,” and that it would aim for “ambitious and balanced outcomes through the first Global Stocktake, across mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation.”

“We discussed the tripling of renewable energy capacity goals in our G20 energy ministers meeting. We decided that this will be aspirational. Different countries have different national circumstances and every country is carrying out energy transition as per their national circumstances so this target when we discussed in the G20, we decided it should be aspirational,” said Union power and renewable energy minister, RK Singh, at the International Solar Alliance’s sixth assembly last week.