Climate change: India pitches for financial support by developed nations

Kochi: In the run up to two key UN summits on Climate Change, India has raised the pitch for finance and technology support to developing nations to achieve the Paris Agreement goals of keeping a global average temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was taking decisive steps in achieving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which is the heart of the 2015 Paris pact.

Javadekar spelt out the success stories of India on Paris NDCs to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

"In Chile, when we meet in the next COP (Conference of the Parties), we will be taking a stance that every country needs to follow their own commitments to reduce national emissions and advanced countries need to provide finance and technology support, that is most important to developing world, he said here during his visit for a function on Friday.

The nations under the United Nations negotiated and adopted the Paris Agreement in which India made four commitments, including reducing greenhouse gas emission intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, under its NDC.

NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Referring to the governments ambitious Clean India mission, its efforts towards eliminating single use plastic, harnessing solar and wind energy and, creating more tree cover for protection of environment, Javadekar said these will be highlighted in various UN Climate forums.

A climate action summit being hosted by UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres will be held this month and the United Nations summit hosted by Chile in December.

He also said the Prime Ministers ambitious renewable energy programme to create 175 GW by 2022 "is a huge success and India has already reduced energy intensity by 22 per cent.

Prakash Javadekar's remarks are in line with the statement by the BASIC group of nations –Brazil, South Africa, India and China –in which they urged developed countries to undertake ambitious actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and meet their finance commitments, including by mobilizing USD 100 billion annually by 2020.