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India among few countries to respect commitments to Paris agreement: Indian envoy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made climate change a national mission since he took the office in 2014, said India’s ambassador to France.
India’s ambassador to France, Jawed Ashraf, on Thursday said that the world cannot afford to ignore the “long term pandemic” of climate change even as it is preoccupied with coronavirus disease (Covid-19). In an opinion piece for French daily Le Figaro, Ashraf highlighted the progress made by India on the climate action front, saying the country is on course to meet, and even exceed its commitments to Paris Agreement. He opined that although the world is falling short on its commitment, there are success stories of bold and imaginative action from large as well as small countries that “should inspire us”.
“India has already achieved 25% reduction in energy intensity over 2005 level, and is on its way to doing more than our commitment of 33-35% reduction in 2030,” the Indian envoy wrote.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made climate change a national mission since he took the office in 2014, the ambassador said. He further added that PM Modi’s strategy to mitigate the risk of climate change rests on four pillars, including raising national consciousness on climate change, managing the demand side for fossil fuel and electricity, and emphasising biodiversity conservation.
“At the heart of India’s strategy is making clean energy reliable, accessible and affordable. That belief also guided Prime Minister Modi’s call for International Solar Alliance, launched in Paris in 2015 with France as a co-founder, which now has nearly 90 member countries,” he wrote.
Ashraf underscored the importance of international partnerships, saying climate change needs the same urgency that was visible in the efforts to develop, produce and distribute Covid-19 vaccines globally at affordable prices. He also stressed that advanced economies must do more to “meet their own commitments and to help the developing world.”
“That means investing heavily in technologies and making them widely available as global public goods, backed by significantly higher commitment of financial resources for the developing world,” he added.
On Thursday, PM Modi announced the launch of the “India-US climate and clean energy Agenda 2030 partnership” to “mobilise investments, demonstrate clean technologies and enable green collaborations”. Addressing the virtual summit of 40 world leaders hosted by US President Joe Biden, the prime minister called for a concrete action “at a high speed, on a large scale, and with a global scope” to combat climate change.
