Consider the following statements:
- Statement I: At the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), India refrained from signing the 'Declaration on Climate and Health'.
- Statement II: The COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health is a binding declaration; and if signed, it becomes mandatory to decarbonize health sector.
- Statement III: If India's health sector is decarbonized, the resilience of its health-care system may be compromised.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Only one of the Statements II and III is correct and that explains Statement I
India is not among the signatories of the COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health (Dubai, December 2023); the list on the COP28 site goes from Iceland straight to Indonesia. The declaration is a political declaration whose commitments are made 'according to our national circumstances', so Statement II is wrong.
- ✓ Statement I India did not sign: the list of signatories on the COP28 site names 151 signatories, including the European Union, and India is not among them. The declaration was launched on COP28's inaugural Health Day, 3 December 2023.
- ✗ Statement II The declaration is not a mandate: its signatories commit to better integrating health into climate policy and to promoting steps such as assessing health-system emissions and developing action plans and decarbonisation targets, all 'according to our national circumstances'. Signing does not make decarbonising the health sector mandatory.
- ✓ Statement III UPSC's official key treats this as correct; we could not confirm India's stated reason from an official source, so we do not explain it here.
Remember · COP28 (Dubai, 2023) Declaration on Climate and Health: first Health Day at a COP, 151 signatories; India is not on the list. Commitments are 'according to our national circumstances', not mandatory.
Sources
- COP28 UAE Presidency: COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health ↗ · reference work “To achieve these aims - according to our national circumstances - we commit to pursuing the better integration of health considerations into our climate policy processes, … Promoting steps to curb emissions and reduce waste in the health sector, such as by assessing the greenhouse gas emissions of health systems, and developing action plans, nationally determined decarbonization targets, … 54. Hungary 55. Iceland 56. Indonesia 57. Iran 58. Iraq 59. Ireland 60. Israel 61. Italy”
- WHO: COP28 UAE Declaration on climate and health ↗ “In a historic milestone marking the inaugural Health Day at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), global leaders united in endorsing the health and climate change declaration,”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·