New Delhi: Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen Monday said rich countries have to increase their share in the climate fund to enable developing countries to make bigger climate change commitments.
She was speaking at an event organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), weeks ahead of the COP26 global climate talks, which are scheduled to be held from 31 October to 12 November in Glasgow.
The 26th annual UN conference is expected to be a “critical summit” in order to assess whether countries are willing to take some “tough decisions” on climate change issues as laid out in the Paris Agreement, the Danish Prime Minister said.
In the run-up to the Paris Agreement, developed countries pledged to raise $100 billion a year from 2020 to support poorer countries with policy measures related to climate change. The PM said Denmark will scale up its contribution towards the climate fund.
“Climate challenge is the biggest challenge for all of us. It affects us all and it can only be addressed if we all do our part… I would like to underline that the world’s richest countries have to deliver and, of course, Denmark is ready to do so. We will scale up our grant-based climate finance for developing countries to at least $500 million a year,” the Danish PM added.
“The poorest countries are often hit hardest by climate change. That is why at least 60 per cent of our grant-based climate finance will be dedicated to climate adaptation… In total, Denmark will contribute at least one per cent of the collective global target of $100 billion,” she added.
‘Don’t want emerging countries to make same mistakes’
Frederiksen acknowledged that while it is easier for a rich country like Denmark to implement climate change measures, it is “not easy” for emerging economies like India.
“Our (Denmark and India) starting points are very different. It is much easier for Denmark, it is much easier for Europe to have ambitious goals. But at the same time if you and other countries did all the same mistakes as we did then we will not reach the goals in the Paris Agreement. So you need to act in a smarter way than what we did,” she said.
Last week, during their bilateral meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Frederiksen released a detailed five-year Action Plan (2021-2026) to implement the Green Strategic Partnership, which was launched on 28 September 2020.
Both prime ministers expressed a common ambition to expand commercial cooperation within the energy sector to include e-mobility, offshore wind, fuel-technologies, including green hydrogen and green methanol, among others, said a joint statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.
“India is such a big country. So many people live in this part of the world and Denmark is such a small country. This partnership between such different countries can inspire the rest of the world,” she added.
(Edited by Neha Mahajan)
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