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Business News/ News / India/  Javadekar says India is not responsible for climate change
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Javadekar says India is not responsible for climate change

The Union Environment Minister said, however, as a responsible participant in world affairs, the country chose to take part in combating climate change.

Javadekar says India is not responsible for climate change (PTI )Premium
Javadekar says India is not responsible for climate change (PTI )

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday said climate change isn't an overnight phenomenon, it takes 100 years for a change and India is in no way responsible for this climate change.

He said, "Historically the USA has 25% of all emissions, Europe has 22% whereas China has 13% and India, only 3%. We are in no way responsible for this climate change."

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But as a responsible participant in world affairs, the country chose to take part in combating climate change. "Our emission intensity was to be reduced by 33-35% as per the Paris Climate Agreement. We achieved 21% of this and aim to achieve the remainder in 10 years." The environment minister said this while addressing the media on the eve of five years of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

On December 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the global climate summit on its fifth anniversary.

Five years after the Paris Agreement was signed, most governments are lagging far behind in implementing the deal. Annual greenhouse gas emissions hit a new high last year. And climate change impacts are intensifying, from the thawing Arctic to raging wildfires in Australia and the U.S. West.

"Emissions are not being reduced at the rate that science says we need," said Alden Meyer, a longtime veteran of the U.N. talks and an analyst for the E3G climate change think-tank.

The Paris Agreement aims to hold the rise in average global temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and preferably 1.5C -- a threshold beyond which climate impacts are projected to sharply intensify.

Temperatures have already risen by more than 1C since pre-industrial times, and scientists say that the world's fossil fuel-dependent economies will have to undergo wholesale transformation to bring those goals within reach.

As delegates prepare for a one-day online U.N. climate summit on Saturday, negotiators point to signs of progress: rapid advances in renewable energy, growing appetite for greener investments, and pledges on emissions by the European Union and China. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to rejoin the accord.

"Am I optimistic? Yes, by choice, and by evidence," said Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat who played a key role in brokering the Paris deal as then executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Paris accord makes no specific mention of the fossil fuels responsible for the bulk of planet-warming emissions. But the implication in the 25-page text is clear: the world needs to rapidly end the 250-year reign of coal, oil and natural gas.

Pledges so far to reduce emissions put the world on track for a catastrophic 3C or more of warming this century, with countries planning to produce double the amount of fossil fuels needed to hit the 1.5C target in the next decade alone.

Scientists say it is now imperative that the world halve carbon emissions over the next 10 years. And government action still falls far short of that.

"If you look at the immediate action that we need right now, it's like we are still in a state of denial," Swedish activist Greta Thunberg told reporters on Tuesday.

Later the teenage activist tweeted it is the people who can bring solutions and not leaders.

At the summit on Saturday, diplomats will be watching for signs that countries are preparing to ramp up climate efforts ahead of a major round of U.N. climate talks in Glasgow due to take place in November 2021.

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Published: 11 Dec 2020, 01:46 PM IST
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