India also voiced scepticism over the models and hypotheses currently being used in climate research
India disagreed with a call by certain industrialised nations, especially the US, for full, economy-wide NDCs matched with the 1.5-degree Celsius target and stated at the present Bonn climate conference that Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) need not necessarily encompass all sectors or gases. National plans known as NDCs are intended to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. India also expressed doubts about the models and scenarios currently being employed in climate research.
Referring to the IPCC scenarios on global mitigation pathways, it said, "The models and scenarios currently in the scientific literature have not received the close scrutiny necessary to determine whether developing countries' needs, rights, and aspirations are anywhere close to being met by their projections."
"These models provide pathways that are based on constraining energy consumption and income growth in developing countries, and project a future for us that we do not want," it said.
India emphasised the need to operationalize equity in the dialogue, address pre-2020 implementation gaps, and tackle the disproportionate use of the global carbon budget by a minority of nations during the third and final meeting of the first technical dialogue of the first global stocktake (GST), a two-year UN review to assess the progress made by all parties towards realising the goals of the Paris Agreement. India pointed out that such practices impose severe constraints and costs. The Bonn climate conference, which is a forerunner to the 28th UN Conference of Parties (COP28), is overseen by two UNFCCC bodies, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI).
The G77 and China, who were representing developing countries at the GST meeting, emphasised the necessity of identifying implementation gaps and challenges, particularly those pertaining to the period before 2020 and developed nations' historical obligations for emissions going back to the pre-industrial era. In order to prevent temperature increases, they demanded a fair distribution of the carbon budget. If some nations use more of the carbon budget than they should, this means they bear a disproportionate amount of the blame for the harm caused by global warming and that other nations will have to effectively forgo using all of their fair share in order to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, requiring mitigation to proceed more quickly than would otherwise be necessary.
According to climate science, the carbon budget is the maximum amount of greenhouse gases that can be released at a specific level of global warming (in this example, 1.5 degrees Celsius). India expressed concern over the "lack of operationalizing equity in our dialogue so far, on pre-2020 gaps, the depletion of the global carbon budget due to disproportionate use by a minority, and the severe constraints and costs that this imposes on low-carbon development in developing countries," saying it shares the concerns voiced by others.It declared that it will oppose any directives from the GST regarding what should be included in NDCs.
"Parties under PA retain the sovereign right to determine their climate targets in pursuit of their goals, and reflect them in their NDCs. In this context, we do not support that NDCs necessarily should be economy-wide, comprising all sectors or gases. Those that would like to frame their NDCs in this manner voluntarily have our full support," it said.
Asserting that the GST is an evaluation of the Paris Agreement and not the convention itself, the United States rejected proposals for the assessment of the pre-2020 period and fair access to sustainable development.It added that the next phase of NDCs should be comprehensive, spanning all sectors and trajectories, in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target. It also stated that developed countries are not entirely responsible for filling the gaps revealed through the technical evaluation.
On equity, the US said that it is reflected in the Paris Agreement and that there is no "singular" definition as there are "multiple dimensions" of equity.
Asserting that the GST is an evaluation of the Paris Agreement and not the convention itself, the United States rejected proposals for the assessment of the pre-2020 period and fair access to sustainable development.It added that the next phase of NDCs should be comprehensive, spanning all sectors and trajectories, in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target. It also stated that developed countries are not entirely responsible for filling the gaps revealed through the technical evaluation.