India will sign the Paris Agreement on climate change, adopted by more than 190 countries in December last, on Friday in New York. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of the agreement, adopted during the 21st Conference of Parties held in the French capital.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will sign the agreement on behalf of India on April 22 at a high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon.
India had advocated a strong and durable climate agreement based on the principles and provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the agreement addresses all the important "concerns and expectations" of India.
A record number of more than 150 countries are expected to sign the "historic" Paris agreement in New York. A UN body had earlier said that this record number of countries would surpass the previous record of 119 signatures for an opening day signing for an international agreement, set by the Law of the Sea in Montego Bay in 1994.
The signing ceremony will mark the first step toward ensuring that the Paris Agreement enters into force as early as possible. The agreement will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the secretary-general.
"The Paris Agreement on climate change is a milestone in global climate cooperation. It is meant to enhance the implementation of the Convention and recognises the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances," an official statement said.
The agreement acknowledges the development imperatives of developing countries and their right to development. It also recognises the importance of sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption with developed countries taking the lead and notes the importance of "climate justice", which was raised by India, in its preamble.
Over 60 Heads of State and governments including French President François Hollande are expected to attend the signing ceremony in New York.
"The agreement seeks to enhance the 'implementation of the Convention' whilst reflecting the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances.”
"The objective of the agreement further ensures that it is not mitigation-centric and includes other important elements such as adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology, capacity building and transparency of action and support," the official statement said.
Noting that pre-2020 climate actions are also part of the decisions, the statement said that the developed countries are urged to ramp up their level of financial support.
They are to scale up their financial support with a complete road map to achieve the goal of jointly providing $100 billion by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation by significantly increasing adaptation finance from current levels and to further provide appropriate technology and capacity building support, it said.
Image: A rider cycles with a protective mask in Mexico City. Photograph: Edgard Garrido/Reuters
