India to join Paris accord today

NEW DELHI: On the eve of India joining the Paris Agreement, environment minister Anil Madhav Dave asserted there was no link between the country’s bid for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and ratification of the global climate deal.

He also stressed on Saturday that there was absolutely no pressure on the government and that India would continue to play its key role in articulating the interests of developing countries both under the Paris Agreement as well as during the upcoming negotiation on the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda, on the issue of phasing out the HFC refrigerant.

“India’s decision to ratify the Paris Agreement has come after ensuring compliance of domestic legal requirements, internal discussions and after obtaining clarity from UNFCCC with regard to transparency and participation of parties (countries) in future processes,” said Dave.


India’s ratification of the agreement will come on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Sunday (October 2), generating the political momentum to bring the deal into force in November. On Wednesday, the Union cabinet approved the ratification and later President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent.

Asked if there was pressure on India to ratify the agreement, Dave said, “We do not like if somebody puts pressure on us... We wanted to see if our interests will be taken care of when we go forward with implementing the Paris deal in future,” he said.

Asked about India’s negotiating stand in Kigali conference (October 8-14) where countries are expected to arrive at ‘freezing year’ and ‘baseline year’ to phase down production and consumption of HFCs, Dave said, “We will stick to (the baseline) 2028-30 and freezing year (2031). We will make sure that development is not compromised.

We must get enough time before the phasing out period starts.”

The ‘freezing year’ is the year when use of HFCs will peak before being rapidly scaled down and phased out while the baseline is instrumental in fixing levels. Though rich nations want an early ‘freezing year’ (2021), India has been insisting to use HFCs till 2031 before phasing down.