India, China yet to sign pledge on renewable energy capacity

There was a flurry of big announcements at the UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai on Saturday, including a pledge to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030 and a decarbonisation charter for the oil and gas industry.

- Jayashree Nandi

But in termsofnegotiationson sticky issues, there remained major differences among developedanddevelopingcountrieson the delivery of long promised $100 billion in climate finance andon the shape andmessaging of theGlobal Stocktake. 

Around 118 countries signed a pledge to triple the world’s current renewableenergygeneration capacity to at least 11,000GWby 2030, taking into consideration different starting points and national circumstances, COP28 PresidencyUnitedArabEmirates announcedonSaturday.Thisalso included a commitment towork together in order to double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements fromaround2%toover4%every year until 2030. 

“This can andwill help transition the world away from unabated coal,” said summit president Sultan al-Jaber, calling on otherdelegates “tocomeonboard as soon as possible”.

Till Saturday evening, India and China were not among the signatories to the pledge, with India inprocessof consultingvariousgroups tobeable tomakean informed call, officials said. “We are trying to take an informed call.Wearehavingconsultations and trying tounderstandvarious aspects associatedwith this commitment,” a senior official said.