India emphasized the "breach" of carbon space by developed nations in its national statement on Tuesday, November 19, at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. It also stated that the New Collective Quantified Goal, the new finance goal that developing countries must receive for climate action and that must be finalized at the UN climate summit, must be "ambitious" and "unambiguous."

Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state in the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, gave India's national statement on Tuesday evening at the UN's 29th Conference of the Parties, or COP29, which is currently taking place in Baku. Singh called the conference a "important juncture of our collective fight against climate change."


Reduced carbon space

The Global Carbon Project's 2024 Global Carbon Budget report projects that carbon emissions from cement and fossil fuels will increase by about 0.8% in 2024, reaching a record 37.4 billion tonnes of CO2 (GtCO2), which is 0.4 GtCO2 more than the previous record set in 2023.


At 41.6 GtCO2, total carbon emissions (including emissions from land use and fossil fuels) will also reach a new high, up 2% from 2023 levels.

At this rate, the world's remaining carbon budget—the quantity of carbon that can be released in order to meet the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C warming limit—will run out in six years. 

Singh read out the country's statement at COP29, saying, "The Global North's hard carbon emission development pathways have left very little carbon space for the Global South in the past."

He emphasized, however, that India's growth trajectory cannot be jeopardized in order to meet the "primary needs" of poverty eradication and sustainable development.


Later in the speech, he added, "We believe that the breach of carbon space will occur at the end of this crucial decade." As mandated by [the] Paris Agreement, it is crucial that the developed nations take the lead in mitigation efforts by not only meeting their net zero goals but also allowing developing nations like ours to grow in terms of carbon emissions.