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Bengaluru: India has withdrawn its offer to host the 33rd annual climate change conference or COP33 in 2028, according to a report by Climate Home News on April 2.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed in December 2023, while speaking at the 28th Conference of Parties at Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that India would host COP33. Climate experts had commented then that this move would send a powerful statement from India.

Climate experts have now called India’s decision to back out of hosting the COP a “strategic missed opportunity” and a “setback for global efforts”. The US-Iran war was forcing nations, including India, to take a “cautious approach”, and that includes announcing conservative climate targets and prioritising short-term energy security through traditional fuels, they told The Wire.

Per the report by Climate Home News, Rajat Agarwal, Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, informed the chair of the Asia-Pacific Group within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (which conducts the climate conference) about India’s decision to withdraw from hosting COP33 on April 2 via a letter.

Per the report, the four-paragraph letter said that India took the decision after it ‘reviewed’ its climate commitments for the year 2028. The letter does not specify any other reason for the withdrawal but noted........

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