New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) India and the United Kingdom have agreed to strengthen climate initiatives and further their green partnership, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Friday. In a bilateral meeting with a UK delegation led by Foreign Minister Liz Truss, the minister said India will support the UK COP Presidency and that the huge expectations in COP 26 include arriving at a consensus on unresolved issues of the Paris Agreement Rule Book, long-term climate finance, market-based mechanisms, etc. “Had an engaging bilateral with the UK delegation led by foreign minister Liz Truss. Both Sides agreed to strengthen climate initiatives and further our green partnership. Assured India"s support for UK COP Presidency, wishing COP26 would be the COP of action and implementation,” the minister tweeted after the meeting. The UK will host the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12. Stressing that COP26 should also initiate the process of setting the long-term climate finance for the post-2025 period, Yadav stated that India welcomes the UK COP 26 Presidency"s five key initiatives on sustainable land use, energy transition, low emission vehicle transition, climate finance, and adaptation. In the meeting, both the countries underlined the need for strengthening bilateral partnership and collaboration to facilitate the collective R&D of cutting-edge technologies and the transfer of proven technologies to drive low carbon pathways. “Both sides also agreed to explore ways and means to also strengthen global climate initiatives including the International Solar Alliance, Coalition Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT Group), Call for Action on Adaptation and Resilience, and Mission Innovation,” the ministry said in a statement. Earlier in the day, Yadav met Executive V-P for European Green Deal Frans Timmermans at the ministry headquarters wherein several issues, including climate finance, technology transfer and ways to promote low carbon pathways, were discussed. COP26 holds significance this year as it is expected to discuss the status of the climate finance promises made by the developed nations to the developing nations. India has time and again maintained that it is suffering because of the mistakes of others and is not responsible for climate change. It has also reiterated that the countries responsible for climate change should finance what they have committed to and make technology available at an affordable cost. Under the Copenhagen Accord, developed countries committed to a goal of mobilising 100 billion US dollar a year by 2020 to help developing countries mitigate climate change. Under the Paris Agreement, India has three quantifiable nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which include lowering the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent compared to 2005 levels by 2030; increase total cumulative electricity generation from fossil free energy sources to 40 per cent by 2030 and create additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons through additional forest and tree cover. PTI AG SMN SMN