India has decided to withdraw its offer to host the United Nations’ annual climate conference, the Conference of the Parties (COP33), in 2028, according to government officials familiar with the development. The decision was communicated earlier this month, though no official reason has yet been publicly provided.
While the idea to hold the global climate summit had been made back in 2023 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian government decided to distance itself from its initial decision to host the summit after conducting what sources described as a “review of commitments”. While the officials who were quoted in this report were unwilling to comment on their claims for record purposes, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India did not issue any official statements.
The announcement was made to the Chair of the Asia-Pacific Group that acts as a negotiating group on behalf of its member nations at UN climate summits. Neither has UNFCCC Secretariat made an official statement on the matter.
The move by India is taking place in the context where climate policies across the globe are under threat. Various major economies around the world are failing to achieve their goals with regard to cutting back on their emissions, and there is doubt over how well the global efforts are going to succeed in the fight against climate change.
There is an interesting link between India’s move and developments taking place elsewhere. For example, according to data from Citepa, which is a mandated French organization, in 2025 France was unable to make substantial progress in lowering its emissions for the second year running. As per the data released, greenhouse gas emissions in France fell by only 1.5 percent compared to the previous year.
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