New Delhi: India has withdrawn its offer to host the 33rd edition of the global climate meet, the Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2028, senior officials from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) said on Wednesday.
A top official from the ministry confirmed the withdrawal to ThePrint without stating any specific reason behind the government’s decision.
India officially communicated its decision to not host the 2028 COP earlier this month.
“Of course, we are focused on our climate commitments. We have and will remain a strong voice at COP,” an official said.
Requests sent to the MoEFCC and the office of Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav for an official response remained unanswered.
In 2023, during COP28 in Dubai, UAE, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered to host COP33. Usually, the venue for a COP edition is decided two years in advance.
“Over the past century, a small section of humanity has indiscriminately exploited nature. However, entire humanity is paying the price for this, especially people living in the global south,” PM Modi said in his speech at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP in Dubai.
In 2025, the Centre also formed a COP33 cell within the ministry’s Climate Change Division. The panel was to have 11 members, including the joint secretary (climate change), directors, and consultants.
According to Climate Home News, India’s withdrawal came “following a review of its commitments for the year 2028.”
Two ministry officials that ThePrint spoke to said that multiple considerations, including the US’s exit from the 2015 Paris Agreement and the recent poor attendance at the climate conference, went into the decision not to host.
In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating the US’s withdrawal from the Agreement for the second time.
Along with the US, many countries showed lukewarm participation at the last climate conference in Belém, Brazil. While the US did not send a delegation, China’s President Xi Jinping also gave the conference a miss, along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
How are host countries decided?
According to UNFCC, the host government for a COP event is responsible for providing “premises and facilities, equipment, utilities and services for the COP.”
“This includes translation services for all six working languages of the UN and making sure that facilities for media representatives are available. It also includes security for the COP outside of the core ‘blue zone’ of the meeting, which is secured by UN staff. The host government also provides leadership on engaging governments and non-Party stakeholders to ensure a smooth preparation and delivery of successful COPs,” the UNFCC website reads.
The privilege of hosting each year’s conference is reserved with one of the five UN regional groups. This is done on a rotational basis. COP31, which will be hosted this year, will be hosted by Turkey in partnership with Australia, from the Western Europe and Other group, and the 32nd edition was hosted by Ethiopia from the African group.
The rotational right for the 33rd edition of COP is with the Asia-Pacific group, of which India is a member. After India, South Korea is the next possible contender to be the host.
If India had gone ahead with its bid, this would have been the second time it had hosted a COP. In 2002, India hosted COP8 in New Delhi.