set out well defined commitments to minimise kits greenhouse gas emissions. However, the South Asian nations has expressly refused to do so, claiming that it would critically constrain the country’s economic growth.
Nevertheless, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to depart to Italy on Friday (29 October) to attend the G20 meeting before proceeding to Glasgow for the long-awaited UN climate summit (COP26). Ahead of his departure, the Indian leader held a long inter-ministerial meeting on Wednesday, in order to fine-tune his strategy at the event. The meeting was attended by several government officials, including representatives of the ministries concerning power, renewable energy, finance and agriculture.
Although details of the discussion were not immediately available, citing a senior official who attended the discussion, Hindustan Times revealed that India’s strategy for the COP26 negotiations was the key issue on the agenda. “We cannot give any more details at the moment but it was discussed at length as to what is possible for India respecting various principles of the Paris Agreement,” the official told the newspaper. “It was a very lengthy meeting. Unusual but all issues related to the negotiations were discussed.”
According to the official, the environment minister of India, Bhupender Yadav, had spoken with Kerry a couple of days ago and informed him that “India’s contribution will be communicated to the world at an appropriate time and place”.
The Indian newspaper further noted that the official had acknowledged that there is a lot of diplomatic pressure on the South Asian nation to make a strong commitments at COP26. “Many foreign delegates who visited us have cajoled us to commit to a net zero target. The options are still open; I would say that no particular decision was arrived at but the options have been discussed,” the official was quoted saying.
