4 days ago
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India abstained from voting connected a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) solution calling connected countries to comply with their obligations connected clime change, voicing interest that the draught "undermines" the "sacrosanct architecture" of the United Nations Framework Convention connected Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The solution was adopted successful the 193-member General Assembly connected Wednesday (May 20, 2026) with 141 votes successful favour, 8 against and 28 abstentions, including by India.
India said it had engaged constructively during negotiations connected the solution and clarified its concerns and positions astatine each stage.
"We are truthful disappointed that our concerns were not addressed, contempt our champion efforts to find communal ground," it said.
In the Explanation of Vote, First Secretary successful India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Petal Gahlot, said adoption of the solution by the General Assembly does not make binding commitments for India.
"Our obligations originate lone from outcomes adopted nether the UNFCCC process. Hence, successful enactment with our stated presumption connected Climate Change related issues, India was not successful a presumption to ballot successful favour of this resolution," she said.
The solution titled 'Advisory sentiment of the International Court of Justice connected the obligations of States successful respect of clime change' welcomed the July 2025 unanimous advisory sentiment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) connected States' obligations connected clime change. It affirmed the value of the ICJ's advisory sentiment arsenic an authoritative publication to the clarification of existing planetary law.
India has agelong maintained that clime obligations indispensable beryllium negotiated done the UN clime framework, which recognises the rule of “common but differentiated responsibilities”, nether which developed countries, arsenic the largest humanities emitters, are expected to instrumentality the pb connected emissions cuts and supply concern and exertion enactment to processing nations.
Moved by Pacific land federation Vanuatu, the solution called connected each countries to comply with their obligations nether planetary instrumentality to support the clime strategy and the situation from anthropogenic greenhouse state emissions.
It urged countries, successful enactment with the Paris Agreement and their nationalist circumstances, to instrumentality measures aimed astatine limiting the emergence successful planetary mean somesthesia to 1.5 degrees Celsius supra pre-industrial levels.
India said the draught solution fails to intelligibly bespeak the “advisory and non-binding” quality of the ICJ opinion.
"We are truthful earnestly acrophobic that the solution undermines the sacrosanct architecture of the UNFCCC process, by elevating an Advisory Opinion to a binding oregon quasi-binding status, attempting to enforce obligations connected processing countries that person not been multilaterally agreed upon. This is simply a unsafe precedent that we indispensable each beryllium wary of,” Ms. Gahlot said.
India noted that the solution prescribes circumstantial mitigation pathways, imposes outer benchmarks for ambition, and creates conditions that whitethorn invitation judicial oregon quasi-judicial scrutiny of nationally determined contributions.
“This earnestly undermines nationalist argumentation abstraction and disrupts the bottom-up architecture of the Paris Agreement,” Ms. Gahlot said.
India and respective processing countries person besides expressed interest successful the past that attempts to springiness greater ineligible value to the ICJ sentiment could exposure nationalist clime targets and home argumentation choices to planetary ineligible scrutiny extracurricular the negotiated UN clime process.
India besides objected to the lack of the word “climate finance” successful the solution text. “It is present a well-documented information that the clime concern extremity agreed to successful 2024 falls abbreviated of the needs of processing countries and deserves much attraction successful a solution that deals with Obligations of States successful Respect of Climate Change," Ms. Gahlot said, describing it arsenic a "serious omission".
She said India believes that the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement supply an agreed, equitable and blase model for achieving clime goals.
Ms. Gahlot stressed that sustainable improvement and poorness eradication stay overriding priorities for processing countries.
"Any modulation successful vigor systems indispensable truthful beryllium just, orderly, and equitable, taking into relationship the request for vigor access, economical growth, and societal development. The solution does not adequately recognise these imperatives and constrains argumentation abstraction for processing countries.
"It is further a lawsuit of insult to wounded that determination is perfectly nary notation to the necessity of developed countries continuing to instrumentality the pb successful mitigation and providing capable and predictable financing, exertion transportation and capableness gathering to processing countries successful bid for them to undertake specified transitions," Ms. Gahlot said.
She besides underscored the request to code the "historical injustice" faced by Small Island Developing States and their vulnerability to clime change, noting that this forms the ground of India's improvement practice with them.
"It is for this crushed that contempt our concerns not being addressed successful this resolution, India did not ballot against it," Ms. Gahlot said, asserting that respective elements successful the resolution, specified arsenic the exclusion of means of implementation for processing countries, are contrary to India's "principled stand" connected clime action.
