COP23 Companion Event on India’s Climate Mitigation and Adaptation: Key Strategies

Venue: Hilton Hotel Bonn, Berliner Freiheit 2, Bonn

Post-Paris, the international community is determined to meet the global climatechallenge with the help ofnew strategies and initiatives that simultaneously promote inclusive, sustainable socio-economic development, environmental sustainability, and sustainable peace. India’s role as a global climate actor is critical. Luckily, India is quickly synchronizing with the new climate goals. India promotes cooperation on disaster risk management, clean energy,and innovative green technology solutions that combine development potential with the reduction of carbon emissions. North-South technology transfer is only one part of the climate-development nexus. Indigenization of technology innovation and knowledge sharing are emerging as increasingly important approaches to climate action.

GOAL

This conference provides a platform to highlight India as an important scene of green innovation, while explainingIndia’s key strategies in green policy development, as reflected in India’s evolving position in climate negotiations. In this conference we will present and discuss India’s viewpoints, initiatives and key strategies, as India makes thetransition to a new “green evolution”.

BACKGROUND

India accounts for about 4.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gasses. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which sets out the architecture for carbon emission reduction after 2020, was ratified by India on October 2, 2016. The Paris accord safeguards the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), which has remained a non-negotiable aspect of India’s climate position. This principle squarely puts the major responsibility on developed nations to drastically cut their carbon emissions and provide the necessary finance, technology and capacity building for developing economies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. India would like all the key elements–adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology transfer and capacity building–to be incorporated in the global climate deal.

India’s additional contribution to climate action is provisional onthe availability of finance and technologies from the industrialized economies. India also encourages the development of aset of rules to tax or regulate the higher emissions by corporationsacross the globe, as well as a framework of efficiency and climate awareness.In the field of disaster management, India wants to operationalizeloss and damage in the long-term, and set up mechanismsto compensate for climate-related losses that especially affect Small Island States, Least Developed Nations, and developing countries.

India also wants toplay a more proactive climate and development role, domestically and abroad. Regionally, India recognizes that climate action can open up new opportunities to overcome trust deficits through heightened inter-state cooperation on disaster preparedness, early warning systems, disaster risk reduction measures,and sharing of real-time data.

CONCEPT

Co-organized by the Indian Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), this conference is a part of the two institutes’ current research cooperation on India in the World: Emerging Perspectives on Global Challenges, and its subproject on Climate Change. The aim of this event is to create a platform whereIndian academics, analysts and practitionerscan present and interact witha global audience at the COP23 summit. The format: maximum ten-minute informal presentations will be followed by Q&A, debate and interaction.

Session I            Setting the stage - 0900 AM – 1000 AM

Moderator:                 Uttam Sinha, IDSA

Speakers:                   Jayant Mauskar,Member, Prime Minister Council on Climate Change & Henrik Eriksen, Head of Norway’s Delegation to COP23

Session II           High Technology, Low Emissions - 1000 AM – 1200 AM

Moderator:                 Åshild Kolås, PRIO

Speakers:                   Lydia Powell,Observer Research Foundation (ORF) & Sanjay Gupta,Consultant, the World Bank

 

JOIN US FOR LUNCH 1200 AM – 0130 PM

Address:             Ulrike Scharf, Bavarian State Minister of the Environment and Consumer Protection 0130 PM – 0145 PM

Session III           Disaster Preparedness and Co-operation 0145 PM – 0300 PM

Moderator:                  Jason Miklian, PRIO

Speakers:                    C.R.Babu,Professor Emiritus, Delhi University, Eklabya Sharma, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) & Kamal Kishore,National Disaster Management Agency

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