Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said on Thursday, in a boost for efforts to agree steeper emissions cuts to tackle global warming. India is the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, and Modi’s participation in the COP26 summit, which runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, was seen as critical amid uncertainty over whether Chinese President Xi Jinping would attend, reports Hindustan Times. Both India and China, which have not yet made stronger pledges to cut emissions, known as nationally determined contributions or NDCs, face pressure to do so at the conference. “The prime minister is going to Glasgow,” Yadav said in an interview, adding that India was doing its bit to help tackle climate change. Summit host Britain welcomed Modi’s decision to attend. “India plays an important role in this and the prime minister has had a number of conversations with Modi on the importance of climate change, so we look forward to discussing it with them further,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman told reporters.  Growing public pressure for action on climate change has spurred promises by countries and companies worldwide to contribute to the effort, which will be reviewed and amended at Glasgow. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry has visited India twice in the past few months to urge the Modi government to raise its climate ambition and consider a net zero commitment as scores of other countries have done. Net zero means balancing out greenhouse gas emissions with actions such as planting trees, restoring soil and using technology to prevent emissions reaching the atmosphere. But energy-hungry India, which still relies heavily on fossil fuels, says it should not be expected to make deep carbon cuts like rich countries because it is a developing economy. India’s Cabinet, chaired by Modi, will decide the position to be taken at COP26, most probably within a week, an environment ministry spokesperson said. Yadav said India was doing its part to cut emissions. “India’s NDCs are quite ambitious,” he said. “We are doing more than our fair share. Our NDCs are more progressive than major polluters.” The country is on track to increase green energy capacity to 450 GW by 2030, he said. It has installed more than 100 GW of renewable energy, which accounts for more than 25% of overall capacity. Read: G20 leaders to tackle energy prices, other economic woes India has not yet committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, considered a vital goal in limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Government sources have told Reuters that India is unlikely to bind itself to that goal, as tougher deadlines would hit demand growth that is projected to outstrip that of any other nation over the next two decades. Last month, India’s chief economic adviser K.V. Subramanian said rich nations should commit much more than $100 billion to help poor countries fight climate change, due to their high historical share of emissions. Read: No pathway to reach the Paris Agreement’s 1.5˚C goal without the G20: UN chief “Even today, India’s per capita greenhouse emission is one-third of the world average,” Yadav said. About 120 countries have submitted revised NDCs, but there is a lack of consistency with no common timeframe for meeting pledges.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) on Thursday  called for an inclusive process from the government to strengthen country’s interest in the upcoming UN climate conference  CoP 26. In a virtual seminar on Thursday, they also opined that, as one of the Most Vulnerable Countries (MVC), Bangladesh should adopt a firm stance in support of a legally binding commitment under the Paris Agreement in order to secure additional funding for improved adaptation activities and to avoid recurrent loss and damage. Read:'COP26 outcomes crucial for climate-vulnerable countries like Bangladesh The online seminar titled “CoP-26: Government position and CSO perspectives” was jointly organized by COAST foundation, An Organization for Socio-Economic Development (AOSED), Centre for Participatory Research & Development (CPRD) Coastal Development Partnership (CDP) and Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) and Equity and Justice Working Group, Bangladesh (EquityBD). Coast foundation also hosted an online session titled "CoP-26: Government Position and CSO Perspectives" during the seminar. Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP and the Chair of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry was the Chief Guest, while Asheq Ullah Rafiq MP Cox's Bazar-2 was the Special Guest in the seminar moderated by Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of EquityBD. Syed Aminul Hoque from EquityBD presented the key note paper of the seminar. Syed Aminul Hoque said that,  the CoP 26 is crucial since it will take a main stocktake on newly submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), establish the Loss and Damage Mechanism, and providing $100 billion in Green Climate Fund (GCF). In this context, Bangladesh's government should play a critical role in safeguarding the country's interests, particularly in protecting vulnerable people and reducing the effects of regular loss and damage caused by climate change.  He addressed a number of demands to the government delegation, including, Continued revision of NDCs by developed and polluter countries based on their fair contribution and economic volume in order to keep global temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius,  Developed countries must secure additional funding beyond the GCF to mitigate and adapt to loss and damage. Saber Hossain Chowdhury stated that Bangladesh will undoubtedly play an effective part in CoP 26 in order to divert the negotiation flow in the country's favour. ‘Apart from that, our prime minister will participate and speak out openly to encourage developed countries to adhere to realistic GHG reduction targets and to get $100 billion in GCF funding,” he added.   “We have drafted a country position for CoP 26 and are coordinating issues among government officials,” said Mirza Sawkat Ali, Director of Department of Environment,   He also said, “the government's position has primarily focused on finance and technology, and we will endeavour to reach a consensus to balance the GCF fund for adaptation by 50 per cent. CSOs should also be considered separately.” Among others, Md. Shamsuddoha of CPRD, Rabeya Begum, Co-Chair of CANSA-BD, Md. Jahangir Hossen Masum of CDP, Mohan Kumar Mondal of LEADERS, Shamim Arefin of AoSED-Khulna, Hasan Mehedi of CLEAN, Kawser Rahaman of Janakhanta spoke on the occasion.   

British High Commissioner Robert Chatterton Dickson on Monday said Bangladesh and the United Kingdom (UK) can form a great partnership to lead global efforts to tackle climate change noting that climate change is the defining issue of their time.