India scored a tiny win at the COP29 climate negotiations at Baku in Azerbaijan.

During COP26, held in Glasgow in 2021, the developed countries introduced a new concept into climate negotiations: Just Energy Transition Partnership — a collaboration between developed and developing countries to transition away from coal. 

This was primarily aimed at getting coal producing countries to shift away from coal without hurting stakeholders. But this would have meant more debt for countries consuming coal. 

Srestha Banerjee, Director of Just Transition at the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), a global think-tank, told businessline that JETP’s “momentum has faded over the past year” because the Indian government felt that the arrangement was “loan-heavy”. India, she said, “had concerns about the nature of the deal offered by developed countries”.

For instance, in 2021, South Africa was promised a loan of $8.5 billion to move away from coal. 

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Now it comes to light that JETP has been given a quiet burial. An indication to this effect was given by Jochen Flasbarth, state secretary in the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Flasbarth told cleanenergywire.org in Baku that the developed countries “are not following this track” because “we realise that the approach is not attractive for India”.

Notably, it was not a slip of the tongue on the part of Flasbarth because he said he had discussed the issue “with my Indian friends” and hence could “speak openly”.

India’s refrain has been clear — while it agrees coal is bad, it has no option but to use it — 15 million people across five States depend on coal for their livelihood. The country expects a 7 per cent annual increase in coal production, touching 1.5 billion tonnes a year, until 2030, before it starts declining. 

However, the country would keep increasing renewable energy so that coal could someday be left underground. According to Flasbarth, the developed countries had taken a nuanced stance. Instead of targeting a coal phase-out, they would cooperate with India in building up renewable energy capacity.