Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said that India would raise its climate ambitions but “not under pressure”, and that it would not allow anybody to forget their historical responsibility.
The environment ministry later issued a clarification stating Javadekar “had only said that India will ‘over achieve’ its commitment made in Paris and not said that India will ‘raise its ambitions’”.
India is suffering because of the mistakes of others and “is not responsible for climate change that is happening”, Javadekar said at a climate conference at the French Embassy after meeting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The remarks come ahead of US President Joe Biden’s summit on climate. President Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including PM Modi, to the virtual summit, scheduled on 22-23 April, to underscore the urgency and the economic benefits of stronger climate action. US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry had also met Javadekar and PM Modi last week.
The French Foreign Minister said that the consequences will be disastrous if the world is not able to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, or even 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. That’s why it is absolutely indispensable that all countries increase their climate commitments by the time the COP26 takes place in Glasgow, as required by the Paris Agreement, he said. “This increase in ambition must include setting new nationally determined contributions by 2030 and also long-term strategies to achieve carbon neutrality. We must stop building new coal-based power plants and it is essential that we progressively stop this mode of electricity production at a global level,” Jean-Yves Le Drian said.
Javadekar emphasised that India is the only G-20 country to walk the talk on the Paris climate agreement and “we have done more than we promised”. He said that the frequency of abnormal (weather) events has increased but “let us not forget that this is not a new phenomenon”.
“What we are suffering today was caused 100 years ago. European and American countries and China, in the last 30 years, emitted (greenhouse gases) and therefore, the world is suffering, India is suffering because of the actions of others,” he said.
“We cannot just forget it (historical responsibility), and we will not allow anybody to forget it,” Javadekar said. “They committed in Copenhagen, 100 billion dollars per year but where is the money. There is no money in sight,” he said.
Under the Copenhagen Accord, developed countries committed to a goal of mobilising $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries mitigate climate change. Javadekar said many countries have forgotten their pre-2020 commitments.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS