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.
India, the US, and 12 other countries are expected to sign an agreement on Thursday that will help them achieve their climate goals through collaborative financing without imposing trade barriers.
The proposed Clean Economy Agreement, part of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), aims to help member countries meet their climate objectives by improving market conditions, officials said.
The agreement is anticipated to be signed at the two-day Clean Economy Investor Forum in Singapore, which concludes on Thursday. Senior officials from India's commerce and industry ministry are attending the forum. “The 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. This would be the second agreement under the 14-member IPEF, following a supply chain resilience agreement signed in November last year.
The IPEF includes 14 countries: India, Australia, the US, Japan, Fiji, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, and Thailand, representing 40% of global GDP and 28% of global trade in goods and services.
The IPEF is structured around four pillars: trade, supply chains, clean economy, and fair economy (addressing issues like tax and anti-corruption). India has joined all the pillars except for trade.
The clean economy pillar focuses on environmental issues, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in various industries, carbon capture utilization and storage, and collaborative financing mechanisms to facilitate trading and reduce barriers for low-carbon projects.
Member countries are expected to decarbonize and reduce the transportation sector's climate impact, adopt advanced sustainable agricultural practices, address deforestation and degradation drivers by working with companies sourcing products from the Indo-Pacific region, and create enabling conditions to facilitate these activities.
Trade experts have cautioned that India should not allow the import of genetically modified seeds and foods under the guise of food security, as this could lead to a surge in subsidized agricultural 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. Therefore, 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 fertilizers, electricity, and irrigation,” the expert added.
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