India offers to host 2028 climate meet

Subject: Environment

Section: International Conventions

In the news:

Prime Minister of India in his address at COP-28, offered to host the 33rd edition of the annual summit due in 2028 in India.
India had previously hosted the summit in 2002.
He also pitched for countries to join India in its “Green Credit initiative” which was a “non-commercial” effort to create a carbon sink.

Conference of Parties (COP) of UNFCCC:

The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention.
All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements.
The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995.
The last COP in 2022 was held in Sharm Al-Sheikh, Egypt.
COP28 in 2023 is being held at Dubai, UAE.
From Asia region– Kyoto, Japan (COP3- 1997), New Delhi, India (COP8- 2002), Bali, Indonesia (COP13- 2007), Doha, Qatar (COP18- 2012) and Dubai, UAE (COP28- 2023) have held the summit.

How is the host country of the conference selected?

Regional group members hold consultations to determine which country from their region will make an offer to host a conference.
The host country of the COP normally rotates among the five United Nations regional groups (The African Group, the Asia-Pacific Group, the Eastern Europe Group, the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) and the Western European and Others Group (WEOG)).
Once agreed, the country selected by the regional group to host the conference sends its offer formally to the UNFCCC secretariat.
The COP considers the offers and adopts a decision, usually titled “Dates and Venues of Future Sessions”, accepting the offer, subject to confirmation by the Bureau of the COP.
The secretariat then undertakes a fact-finding mission to the prospective host country to determine that all “logistical, technical and financial elements for hosting the sessions are available” and reports back to the Bureau, early at the start of the year.
A proposal to host the Conference of the Parties (COP) must be approved by other signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

What is the role of the COP host government?

The host government provides 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.

Green Credit Program (GCP): Incentivizing Environmental Actions

GCP was notified on 13th October, 2023 is an innovative market-based mechanism designed to incentivize voluntary environmental actions across diverse sectors, by various stakeholders like individuals, communities, private sector industries, and companies.
The GCP’s governance framework is supported by an inter-ministerial Steering Committee and The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) serves as the GCP Administrator, responsible for program implementation, management, monitoring, and operation.
In its initial phase, the GCP focuses on two key activities: water conservation and afforestation.
Draft methodologies for awarding Green Credits have been developed and will be notified for stakeholder consultation.
- These methodologies set benchmarks for each activity/process, to ensure environmental impact and fungibility across sectors.
The Green Credit Registry and trading platform, being developed by ICFRE along with experts, would facilitate the registration and thereafter, the buying and selling of Green Credits.