Cabinet okays Paris deal, govt’s climate spend set to go up

NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet cleared on Wednesday ratification of the Paris climate deal, aimed at creating a zero-emission world by the turn of the century that

Published on: Sep 29, 2016, 07:07:59 IST

By Chetan Chauhan

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NEW DELHI: The Union cabinet cleared on Wednesday ratification of the Paris climate deal, aimed at creating a zero-emission world by the turn of the century that will reduce dependence on fossil fuel-based energy sources.

The deal will be formally ratified on October 2, on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, the Centre said. Over 190 countries signed the deal this April, of which 61 nations accounting for 47.9% of the global emissions have ratified it.

With India, having 4.5% share of the global emissions, ratifying it, the possibility of the deal coming into force has brightened. The UN Climate Convention says the deal will be effective once 55 countries, accounting for 55% of the global emissions, ratify the agreement. Once the deal comes into force, the nations will negotiate different protocols under the deal for the next three years. The deal will be effective from January 1, 2021.

“With the gathering momentum and willingness expressed by several other countries to ratify the agreement before the end of this year, it is expected that the agreement will enter into force soon,” the statement read.

The US was first to react, saying it was another example of “courageous” leadership of PM Narendra Modi. Other world leaders, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, also congratulated Modi for ratifying the deal which is being considered as Obama-Ki-moon global legacy.

India’s decision to ratify the agreement came after a ModiObama meeting, which showed that linking New Delhi’s push to join the NSG with the Paris climate deal was diplomatic posturing to gain support of top global leaders.

India has set tough targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. “India will need up to one percentage point of the GDP for achieving the targets and a lot will have to come from the private sector which will be the biggest gainer from the transition,” said Kirit Parekh, chairperson of Expert Group on Low Carbon Strategies for Inclusive Growth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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