New Delhi: India has withdrawn its offer to host the United Nations annual climate Conference Of the Parties (COP33) in 2028, sources said on Wednesday.
During his address at COP28 in Dubai in 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed India as the host country for COP33. Sources informed that the decision has been officially communicated to the concerned that India is withdrawing its bid to host COP33.
There was no response from the Environment Ministry on the development. A questionnaire sent to the COP headquarters in Bonn also did not elicit a response.
The right to host the annual climate COP negotiations rotates between the UN’s five regional groups. This year, COP31 will be co-hosted by Turkiye and Australia — both members of the Western Europe and Others Group — and next year’s event will be held in the capital city of Ethiopia, a representative of the African Group.
In July 2025, the Environment Ministry in India had set up a dedicated COP33 Cell to address the professional and logistical requirements for the 2028 summit. The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets the rules for the climate club. COP is their flagship event, each gathering presided over and hosted by a country.
The COP meeting is organised by rotation in each of the five UN-classified regions. India falls in the Asia-Pacific region whose turn it is to host the meeting in 2028.
The choice of the host is made by consensus within the region. Usually, the host country, and city, is finalised two years in advance, but sometimes the decision is delayed due to lack of candidates or absence of consensus in the event of multiple countries staking claim. In the last COP meeting in Brazil in November 2025, for example, it was decided that COP31 event would take place in Ankara, Turkey, but would be co-hosted by Turkey and Australia who had both put in bids. The next year’s event, COP32 in 2027, has gone to Ethiopia.
