The oil-rich UAE will host the COP28 United Nations climate talks in November and December, as world nations remain far apart on means to reduce fossil fuels and reduce global warming.
"The UAE and India are united in their determination to ensure the successful outcome of COP28 as an inclusive and action-oriented conference," read a statement following talks in Abu Dhabi between Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed ben Zayed Al Nahyan and Modi.
The two leaders said they were "committed to enhance cooperation on climate ambition, decarbonisation and clean energy, and work together to have tangible and meaningful outcomes" at the conference, it added.
With global temperatures hitting record highs last week and countries buffeted by floods, storms and crop-withering heatwaves, the world remains far off track to meet its climate goals.
Emirati oil executive Sultan Al Jaber, who will head up the COP28 talks, has said he expects fossil fuels to continue to play a role, albeit reduced and with the use of often controversial technologies to "abate", or neutralise, the emissions.
Last year's climate summit in Egypt saw the creation of a new financial facility for poor countries already ravaged by impacts, but rebuffed attempts to spell out the need to ditch fossil fuels.
That same fault line will run through COP28, pitting the European Union and scores of developing countries against China, India and other emerging giants, along with the United States, the world's largest oil and gas producer.
Modi and the UAE president also stressed the need to take into consideration "the diverse national circumstances of each nation", the statement said, in an apparent nod to developing and emerging countries.
During the visit, Modi also met Jaber who has come under fire since his appointment as COP28 president early this year from critics who say his position as a top oil and gas executive is a conflict of interest because burning fossil fuels is by far the main driver of global warming.
Expecting 70,000 participants, double the largest COP to date, this year's summit hopes to maintain the Paris Agreement's goal for capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Last month UN chief Antonio Guterres slammed the world's response to climate change.
Climate policies currently adopted will lead to average temperatures 2.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times by the end of the century, said the secretary-general.
Modi's visit to the UAE, home to a large Indian community, came after trips to the United States and France where he was feted by the presidents of both countries.
US envoy Kerry heads to China to restart climate talks
Beijing (AFP) July 16, 2023 -
US climate envoy John Kerry will head to China on Sunday to meet with his counterpart Xie Zhenhua and restart stalled talks between the world's two biggest emitters of planet-warming gases.
Kerry's trip to China -- his third as President Joe Biden's climate emissary -- follows weeks of record-setting summer heat that scientists say is being exacerbated by climate change.
Bilateral climate talks stalled last year after Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited self-ruled Taiwan and infuriated Beijing, which considers the island its territory.
But Kerry, a former secretary of state, has enjoyed comparatively cordial and consistent relations with China despite Washington and Beijing locking horns over Taiwan and a number of other thorny issues, including advanced semiconductors.
His trip to Beijing also comes after two other high-profile visits by US officials -- first Secretary of State Antony Blinken, then Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen -- aimed at stabilising US-China ties.
Kerry was scheduled to depart for China on Saturday, according to the US State Department.
The Biden administration has identified climate as an area for potential cooperation with Beijing, despite the tensions elsewhere.
The restart of US-China climate talks will come on the heels of the hottest week on record globally, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
June was already the hottest ever logged, according to US and European agencies.
Kerry will aim to use his time in Beijing to engage with Chinese officials "with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful COP28", the State Department said, referring to the UN climate talks in November.
Nearly 200 nations will gather in the United Arab Emirates for COP28 to thrash out ways to mitigate global warming and its impacts.
- Energy constraints -
As the leading producer of the greenhouse gases driving climate change, China has pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve complete carbon neutrality by 2060.
President Xi Jinping has also said that the country will reduce its use of coal from 2026.
But in April, China approved a major surge in coal power -- a move Greenpeace said prioritised energy supply over the emissions reduction pledge -- fuelling concerns that Beijing will struggle to meet its ambitious targets.
"There are a number of factors that constrain the hands of energy planners in Beijing at the moment," Byford Tsang, a senior policy adviser at the climate-focused think tank E3G, told AFP.
They include economic fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has led to major disruptions in the global gas market, and reduced hydropower capacity in China due to severe droughts in recent years, Tsang said.
Last summer, millions of people in southwest China faced rolling power cuts after crushing heatwaves led to an electricity supply crunch that forced factories to halt work, heightening domestic concerns over energy security.
"I think it would be politically challenging for China to take a step forward on coal policy at this stage," added Tsang.
During his visit, Kerry is also expected to bring up international climate finance efforts, following calls by Yellen during her Beijing trip for China to play a larger role.
Kerry's trip will be closely watched in Washington after Republican lawmakers characterised it as him flying a carbon-spewing private jet halfway across the world to discuss climate with a political adversary.
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