India To Press Rich Countries To Keep Climate Fund Pledge

New Delhi: India will use next week’s U.N. climate conference to urge rich countries to keep their promise to give $100 billion a year in funding to help developing nations deal with climate change and switch to cleaner energy, two government sources said. New Delhi will also reiterate its commitment to doing its best to help slow global warming at the COP27 event, the sources said.

The cost of both decarbonisation and coping with the impact of climate change will be huge and that is why those who have disproportionately contributed to greenhouse gas emissions shouldn’t delay the funding, one of the sources said.

Also Read: COP27 Climate Summit To Test Resolve Of Nations Combating Global Warming, Inflation

“And that is why India will speak for itself and other developing nations to ensure that there is a clear, complete roadmap for the funding that should immediately start flowing”, he added.

In 2009, the developed countries most responsible for global warming pledged to provide $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing nations deal with its consequences.

The commitment has still not been met, generating mistrust and reluctance among some developing nations to accelerate their emissions reductions.

Also Read: Climate Pledges Depend Too Much On Natural Carbon Sinks – Report

India, is the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States – though it is much lower down the rankings of emissions per capita, according to Our World Data.

It has been ramping up its share of renewable energy, but coal continues to be India’s main fuel for power generation, as the country strives to provide energy for its 1.4 billion people using a cheaper fuel.

The sources said India had already initiated steps such as meeting half of its energy demand from non-fossil fuels and building 500 gigawatts of non-fossil energy capacity by 2030.

“These goals need a lot of money and that is why it is important to press for the implementation of climate actions promised by developing countries,” the second source said.

“Developed countries also need to realise that overall costs have gone up, so the pledge to provide $100 billion per year cannot be static. It needs to go up.”

Also Read: Actor Bhumi Pednekar Warns About Climate Crisis, Says It’s A ‘Looming Threat To Humanity’

(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 diarrhoea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.