THE global effort to combat climate degeneration found itself mired in its usual story -- of some nations playing political games in their bid to dictate the international action suitable to their needs and deeds -- more in violation of common sense on climate control than in support of genuine global goals. True, the COP29 at Baku in Azerbaijan did talk of New Collective Quantified Goals (NCQGs), but carefully avoided a genuine consensus by blocking a few countries -- like India -- from the facility of voting on the issues. India’s strong rejection of the USD 300 billion climate finance package was from that stand-point. When a country as important as India that has remained one of the top followers of the global goals with dedication is kept out of decision-marking, then the entire effort has an unacceptable tilt -- which reflected in India’s rejection of the climate deal at Baku. Thus, the freshest global climate finance package met with a setback right at start.

 

This has been the story all along -- for years and decades. Whenever the world tried to come to a common ground to combat climate degeneration, it met with hurdles from hegemonistic countries who did not want to leave the control of climate discourse -- obviously for their highly individualised concerns and benefits, high-calibre commerce being one of those. The Baku meet got mired in politics of dominance because a few powerful countries ignored the actual needs of Global South where nations have suffered from obsolete and rejected technologies from advanced Global North -- and are now expected for the sins of others. This is unfortunate. And such a misfortune has always befallen international attempts to combat climate degeneration. That has been the reason why the world could not meet successfully all its Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) as a precursor to meeting the climate goals. The initial global aim was to meet all the SDGs by the year 2030. With barely 5 years to go, the world has not been able to reach even half of those goals. And now has come the concept of NCQGs whose launch has got mired in international politics. With a country like India rejecting the new climate finance package, universalisation of the NCQGs is not likely to take place. Global powers will have to contend with this situation. Of course, the powers that be in climate politics have earmarked USD 300 billion for financing of the international efforts -- coming from the developed countries -- while the developing countries, most from Global South, will have to make up for USD 1.3 trillion for supporting developed countries for climate action.

 

The trouble is with these details, as experts seem to suggest. India has often held strong views on the issue and has argued logically and successfully against exploitative climate politics. As the Baku Conference of Parties (CoP29) discussed climate finance package, India should have been allowed to express itself. But that allowance was denied for whatever reason, and India rejected the deal as it was not part of the stake-holding countries. It is time the world powers realised that their lop-sided climate politics would only hurt the long-term global goals, and harm the humanity as a whole in the distance. Many other countries have similar views. The world has not forgotten how many countries have collectively fought political hegemony of a handful of countries. Among those who fought such battles is China that often rejected the efforts of a handful of countries to dominate climate politics. If the situation has not changed even after nearly fifty years of common fight for climate protection, then there is something seriously missing from the multilateralism on the issue as critical as climate control.