India spending over 2.6 per cent to tackle climate change: Finance Ministry

NEW DELHI: India is spending over 2.6 per cent of it's GDP to deal with challenges of climate change and wants rich countries to honour their financial commitments to address green issues, according to a Finance Ministry paper.

Also, India is committed to spend large resources through its planning process on meeting the domestic mitigation goal of reducing the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25 per cent by 2020 in comparison with 2005 level, it said.

"Current Government expenditure in India on adaptation to climate variability exceeds 2.6 per cent of the GDP, with agriculture, water resources, health and sanitation, forests, coastal zone infrastructure and extreme events, being specific areas of concern," the paper said.

While India on its own has taken a number of steps, it said increased domestic momentum to deal with climate change also "critically depends on multilateral negotiations" taking place and actual disbursement of fast start and long term finance promised during the Cancun meeting.

"There should be a multilateral financial mechanism under the Convention (UNFCCC) that should be set up with resources provided by developed countries on the basis of assessed contributions," the paper added.

India said the funds that are currently available under the Convention and Kyoto Protocol are small compared to the magnitude assessed by many studies.

The UN Convention on climate change squarely puts the responsibility for the provision of financial support on the developed countries taking into account their contribution to the stock of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in the atmosphere, the ministry said.

The scale and magnitude of the financial support required by developing countries to enhance their domestic mitigation and adaptation actions are a matter of intense debate in the multilateral negotiations under the UNFCCC.

Attempts are being made to design appropriate institutions and mechanisms for this purpose at global level, including setting up of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) under the Convention, developed countries' announcement of $30 billion as fast start funds, and $100 billion (to be mobilized) as long-term finance.

The UNFCCC has estimated a requirement of $200-210 billion in additional investment by 2030 to return GHG to current levels.

Further, additional investment needed worldwide for adaptation is estimated to be $60-182 billion in 2030, inclusive of an expenditure of $28-67 billion in developing countries.

India has prepared a comprehensive National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) with a view to achieve sustainable development with co benefit in terms of climate change.