Ministers of Brazil, South Africa, India, China representing BASIC Group meet at COP26 in Glasgow

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has chaired a meeting at COP26 in Glasgow, UK in which ministers of Brazil, South Africa, India and China represented the BASIC Group.

According to a joint statement on Wednesday, all the ministers pledged their full support to the United Kingdom COP26 Presidency for a successful conference, which delivers an ambitious and balanced outcome, including the completion of the Paris Agreement Work Programme to facilitate the full implementation of the Paris Agreement and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Ministers highlighted that despite the tremendous developmental challenges and pressures of poverty eradication, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the BASIC countries continue to lead from the front on climate change actions.

Ambitious climate change targets announced by BASIC are testimony to the seriousness that BASIC countries accord to tackling climate change.

At COP 26, the Minister of the Environment of Brazil reassured the country's full commitment to being part of the global response to tackle climate change by supporting the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use. Brazil also announced new climate goals, the joint statement said.

These goals include: 50 per cent of emissions reductions by 2030, zero illegal deforestation by 2028, restore and reforest 18 million hectares of forests by 2030 and achieve, in 2030, the participation of 45 per cent to 50 per cent of renewable energies in the composition of the energy matrix.

South Africa has submitted an updated and significantly more ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement ahead of COP26.

The NDC presents a target emission range from 398 - 614 MtCO2e in 2025 and 350 - 420 MtCO2e in 2030. From the upper end of the range of the first NDC, this represents a 17 per cent reduction for 2025 and a 32 per cent reduction for 2030.

The statement further read that South Africa has progressed from an original target against Business as usual, to a fixed target emission range. The lower end of the 2030 updated target emission range is consistent with a 1.5-degree pathway, while the upper end of the range is consistent with a 2-degree pathway. While India is amongst the few countries whose NDCs are already compliant with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi announced further enhancements to India's Climate ambitions at the World Leaders' Summit at COP 26 in Glasgow.

He called for a global mass movement for environmentally sustainable lifestyles and consumption.

India announced five new and updated targets including increasing non-fossil fuel installed electricity capacity to 500 Gigawatts by 2030, achieving 50 per cent of cumulative electric power installed capacity from renewable energy by 2030, reducing total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tons of between now and 2030, reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 45 per cent by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2070.

China aims to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. For 2030, China will lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65 per cent from the 2005 level, increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25 per cent, increase the forest stock volume by six billion cubic meters from 2005 level, and bring its total installed capacity of wind and solar power to over 1.2 billion kilowatts.

Furthermore in the statement, ministers are concerned that climate finance provided by developed countries has fallen short of the USD 100 billion per year commitment by 2020 and that finance tends to be provided with unilateral conditionality and eligibility criteria, as well as in the form of loans, rather than grants, which aggravates the debt crisis. They underlined that developed countries must urgently step forward to fulfil their obligations and mobilize at least USD 100 billion per year from 2021 to 2025.

They also expressed concern that Adaptation is not being accorded the balanced and substantive attention they deserve in the UNFCCC process.

All the BASIC Ministers reiterated their support for Guinea, as the Chair of the Group of 77 and China, with a view to strengthening the unity of the Group of 77 and China and advancing the common interests of the developing countries, the joint statement read.

The meeting was attended by Minister for the Environment of Brazil, Joaquim Leite, China Special Envoy for Climate Change, XIE Zhenhua, Vice Minister, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of People's Republic of China, ZHAO Yingmin and Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment of the Republic of South Africa, Barbara Creecy.

( With inputs from ANI )