Rich Nations Did Not Have Way At COP28: Minister

Developing nations did not give into pressure from developed countries on the language of the COP28 outcome document that called on economies to transition away from fossil fuels, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said on Tuesday.

- Jayashree Nandi

Speaking about the UN Climate Summit, which concluded in Dubai last Wednesday, at a press conference, Yadav said that one of the main reasons for talks running into overtime was disagreement on the demand by developing countries for the text to reflect that richer nations take the lead in transitioning away from fossil fuels a position that ultimately did not make it to the final deal.

But the minister who represented India at the two-week-long negotiations said, the document did retain the concept known as differentiated common responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), a core principle that requires wealthy nations to do more. Some of the developed country blocs were pushing for this to be diluted.

"Countries that have achieved development and progress while causing massive greenhouse gas emissions historically are responsible for providing support to developing countries for energy transition. Annexure 1 of the Paris Agreement lists developed countries that captured most of the carbon space and are responsible for historical emissions and Annexure 2 represents developing countries," Yadav said.