Climate Crisis: India Showing Intent As Problem Solver, Says Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav At G20 Meet

New Delhi: Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday (July 31) said India is showing intent as a problem solver despite not being a traditional contributor to global emissions. Addressing the opening ceremony of the G20 environmental and climate ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia, he said the promise of climate finance from developed countries remains a mirage and its current pace and scale does not match the global aspiration to combat climate change.

Bhupender Yadav also said the primary responsibility for the transition towards net-zero emissions rests with those who have historically accounted for most of the accumulated greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

Net zero means achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out.

Mr. Yadav said,

While India has not been a traditional contributor to global emissions, we are showing the intent in our actions to be a problem solver

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The minister said India is totally committed to driving its low-carbon industry transitions through a multi-pronged approach that cuts across sectors and issues. It has made remarkable progress in recent years in electrifying all households, rapidly increasing access to clean cooking energy and is also one of the world’s largest markets for the deployment of renewable energy. The country’s National Green Hydrogen Mission promises to be a game-changer for reducing emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, he said,

All these efforts need investment at lower costs and innovative models for scaling up climate finance to double 2019 levels by 2025. New approaches are also needed to develop and deploy low-carbon technologies

Mr. Yadav said the maximum impact of the climate crisis is being borne by the poorest countries and most vulnerable communities, which have contributed the least to the climate crisis and lack the technology and capacity and finance required to significantly alter the status quo. He said,

However, the promise of climate finance remains a mirage. An added problem is the clubbing of development finance with climate finance

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In 2019, 70 percent of the public climate finance was given out as loans instead of grants. In 2019-20, only six per cent of climate finance was in grants. This is pushing developing countries into more debt, the minister said.

There is an urgent need to mobilise resources to stimulate the economy in a manner that makes it more resilient and sustainable. But the current pace and scale of climate finance from developed countries is not matching the global aspiration to combat climate change

The minister said the world must recognise that development and environment conservation need to be aligned, rather than treated exclusive of each other. He added,

Secondly, we must decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, while considering national circumstances and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC)

CBDR-RC acknowledges the different capabilities and differing responsibilities of individual countries in addressing climate change. He said the G20 members must hold a special responsibility towards the ocean, as they are all coastal countries and are cumulatively responsible for 45 per cent of the world’s coastlines and over 21 per cent of exclusive economic zones. The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.

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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.

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