Climate finance promised in 2009 under the Paris agreement are still “not on the table” for developing countries, Javadekar said.
Climate finance of USD 100 billion a year and green technologies for mitigation actions promised in 2009 under the Paris agreement are still “not on the table” for developing countries, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in Parliament on Monday.
At the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2009, developed countries had committed to mobilising jointly USD 100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.
This commitment has, since then, been a key element of the international climate negotiations.
“This USD 100 billion is today more than USD 1 trillion. And the finance is not on the table. It is not coming the way it should have come,” Javadekar said during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha responding to a query asked by DMK leader M Shanmughan.
Therefore, India in its recent talks with all concerned authorities and counterparts has stressed that finance and technological support is “very basic” for this whole arrangement of mitigating climate change, he said.
Stating that climate change is not an area specific problem but a global issue, Javadekar said, “We need common efforts. It is not only one country doing something and some countries doing nothing. That won’t solve the problem.”
So, India has already been emphasising on the finance of USD 100 billion per year, which was promised in 2009, for developing countries to adapt to the situation and take mitigation actions, he added.
Responding to a supplementary question on efforts made to achieve the target of 175 gigawatt generation of renewable energy by 2022, the minister said India is in a leadership position as far as renewable energy is concerned.
“In 2014, the total production of solar energy was 2000-odd mega watts. Now it is 90,000 MW of renewable energy put together. There is more than 14 fold increase in solar energy has taken place in the last six years,” he said.
The Prime Minister had declared a target of 175 GW of renewable energy to be achieved by 2022. “We are on course to achieve that. The PM has further scaled it up to 450GW by 2030,” he said.
To another query if any domestic initiatives taken to study and innovate patent free technology, the minister said infrastructure has been created in various IITs.
“As far as the world is concerned, my plea has remained that if we are thinking climate change as disaster then nobody should profit from disaster. Therefore they should provide technology support at an affordable cost. One should not profit from it,” he said.
To a query on progress made under the Paris agreement, the minister said besides renewable energy targets, 35 per cent reduction in emission was one of the targets under the Paris pact.
“So far, we have achieved 26 per cent. We will be over achieving our targets. Along with the government, corporates have taken steps to reduce carbon emission,” he added.
Responding to another query on any plans to review CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) funds guidelines to ensure it is not used for other than activities for afforestation, the minister said a directive has been issued to states to use 80 per cent funds for afforestation and water/fodder augmentation alone.
Source: pti
