India is set to make a significant impact at the 12-day climate change conference in Paris, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself unveiling the country’s position on Monday.Prime Minister Modi, who on Sunday left for Paris to attend the Conference of Parties (COP) 21 climate summit, is scheduled to launch a 122-country solar alliance named International Agency for Solar Policy and Application with French President Francois Hollande on Monday. He is also tipped to hold a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the summit.
The prime minister will be among the 147 heads of state and government who have, thus far, consented to attend the event – officially called the 21st Session of the Conference of Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.Around 50,000 participants, including 25,000 delegates and stakeholders from 196 nations, are to converge in the French capital to forge a legally-binding deal to protect the environment from global warming.
A few hours before leaving for Paris, PM Modi said it is the responsibility of each and every individual to keep a check on the rising temperature of the Earth. He was also hopeful of a concrete outcome in Paris.
In his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Modi said global warming is already creating disasters like recent heavy rainfall in Chennai, and urged people to adopt energy conservation and energy efficiency measures like the maximum use of solar-powered items.
“We must all do our part. For India a target of 175 GW of additional capacity in renewable energy by 2022 and reduction in emission intensity of 33-35 percent by 2030 are just two of the steps of a comprehensive strategy,” Modi had said at a business event in London earlier this month.”We all look forward to a concrete outcome in Paris, within the framework of the UN Convention on Climate Change. The framework has an appropriate balance of collective action: Equity and common-but-differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities,” the prime minister had added.
“We look forward to a concrete outcome in Paris within the framework of UN Convention on Climate Change. The framework has appropriate balance of collective actions: Equity and Common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities.”Ahead of the crucial meet, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “Developed countries have to walk the talk”.He also listed the main criteria: A pact on keeping the rise in global temperatures at below 2 degrees Celsius, monitoring mechanism on commitments by countries, steps to raise $100 billion annually for a climate fund, and technology transfer from developed to developing nations.
Javdekar said there was also no problem in raising the $2.5 trillion that is needed to fund the solar alliance proposed by India over the next decade. “We have worked out the mathematics and its not just a wishlist but concretely backed by money power.”At the larger level, the poor and emerging economies want clean and green technology and funding from rich nations to pursue their national interests without harming the environment further, as they hold the industrialised responsible for polluting the earth in the past.
“What we are asking for is absolutely fair and the developed world must recognise that they have to atone for the historical carbon emissions that they have been putting out in the atmosphere for over 150 years in their search for prosperity,” Javadekar said.India also submitted on October 2, coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, its action plan on climate change, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, pledging to slash by 33-35 per cent over 15 years, while also pursuing its own sustainable development agenda
