COP27: Negotiations extended by a day, India Pavilion wraps up
18/11/2022
BLOG
The 27th Conference of Parties (COP) was supposed to wrap up its work today but has been extended by a day to attempt to take the ongoing negotiations to a logical end. COP is a party-driven process and hence consensus on key issues is vital to the process. The extension is an attempt towards achieving just that.
A lot of issues including mitigation work program, the global goal on adaptation, loss and damage, and climate finance are being negotiated as they remain contentious.
Over the past two days I had the opportunity to co-lead Ministerial consultations on key outstanding issues for climate finance with my Australian counterpart Mr Chris Bowen. The delegates put forth their opinions on how the subject of the New Collective Quantifiable Goal on finance has representation of all the concerned parties. It was great learning experience for me personally co-lead the efforts towards arriving at a consensus.
While the negotiations on key issues have been extended by a day the side events today came to an end at COP27. I held an informal get together with the Indian Delegation on the occasion. I personally thanked the delegates for their tireless efforts over the past 15 days. Each member contributed in their respective way towards the negotiations and subjects discussed at COP 27.
All of us revisited the Pledge Wall at the India Pavilion based on the themes of LiFE, Lifestyle for Environment. The Pavilion which closed today helped in taking the message of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji across the globe. The reactions received by visitors was very encouraging and it was heartening to see people praise India for its cultural ethos which has always supported an environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
We took some time to go through the thoughts and pledges people put up on the Pledge Wall.
India hosted the Pavilion based on the theme of LiFE- from 6th to 18th November 2022. The Pavilion had been designed to send out the message of LiFE through various audio-visuals, Logo, 3D models, set up, décor and side events.
The India Pavilion familiarised the visitors with India’s achievements in Climate Action using technology along with a display on Indian culture, textile and food. The Block Printing activity planned at the Pavilion saw huge participation, especially from the young participants at COP. The pavilion spread the message of LiFE through displays, activities and distribution of LiFE badges and booklets to the visitors.
As many as 49 side events were held at the pavilion. The organizers of the side events included the Central Government Ministries, State Governments, PSUs, autonomous bodies /subordinate organizations, think tanks and UN Organizations.
I received the opportunity to inaugurate the Pavilion on 6th November. This was followed by an event organised by UNDP & UNICEF to distribute COP27 Young Scholars Award. The award was presented to four Young Scholars who were chosen after a rigorous process. November 14th was dedicated to LiFE related events at the India Pavilion. Events were also organised that day to showcase and promote the involvement of youth and children in propagation of environment friendly and sustainable lifestyles.
I released India’s Long-term Low emission development Strategy (LT-LEDS) at the pavilion on 14th November and released a compendium of LiFE “Prayas se Prabhav tak” from the same venue.
The pavilion had a footfall of around 25,000 COP participants.
Apart from interacting with Indian delegates at the Pavilion today I also held bilateral meetings with my Japanese and Maldivian counterparts Akihiro Nishimura and Aminath Shauna respectively.
Tomorrow, a major part of the Indian delegation would head home and the closing plenary at COP27 will see COP President Sameh Shoukry read out the agreed upon text.
