India, the US and 12 other countries on Thursday are likely to ink an agreement to help them meet their climate objectives through collaborative financing without imposing barriers.
The proposed Clean Economy Agreement under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) aims to help the member countries meet their climate objectives by improving market conditions, officials said.
The agreement is likely to be signed at the two-day clean economy investor forum meet in Singapore concluding on Thursday, they said. Senior officials from the commerce and industry ministry are participating in the meet. “Legal scrubbing of the pact is done, and it is in the final stages of approval. All the work is complete,” said one of the officials cited above. It would be the second pact under the 14-member IPEF after a supply chain resilience agreement was signed in November last year.
The framework has 14 countries including India, Australia, the US, Japan, Fiji, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand, representing 40% of global gross domestic product and 28% of the global trade in goods and services.
The IPEF is structured around four pillars relating to trade, supply chains, clean economy and fair economy (issues such as tax and anti-corruption). India has joined all the pillars except the trade one.
The clean economy pillar focuses on environmental issues, how to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in various industries, carbon capture utilisation and storage, and collaborative financing mechanisms to facilitate trading and reduce barriers for low-carbon projects.
Member countries are expected to decarbonise and reduce the climate impact of the transportation sector, follow advanced sustainable agricultural practices, address drivers of deforestation and degradation, including by working with companies that source products from the Indo-Pacific region, and create enabling conditions necessary to facilitate these activities.
Trade experts cautioned that India should not allow the import of genetically modified seeds and foods in the pretence of food security as it may lead to a surge in subsidised agriculture commodity imports.
“Large seed monopolies want farmers to buy seeds from them every time if once bought,” said a Delhi-based trade expert on condition of anonymity. So, the country should “not agree to restrict farmers’ rights to reproduce or exchange seeds or surrender the right to limit trade or provide subsidies to farmers for fertilisers, electricity, and irrigation”, the person added.
