BackClimate: PM ticks off developed nations
The prime minister said that environmental sustainability can only be achieved through climate justice
PremiumNEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that successful climate actions require adequate financing and developed countries need to fulfill their commitments on finance and technology transfer to the lesser developed countries.
Addressing the TERI’s World Sustainable Development Summit, the Prime Minister said that environmental sustainability can only be achieved through climate justice.
He was said that energy requirements of the people of India are expected to nearly double in the next twenty years and denying this energy would be "denying life to millions".
"Successful climate actions also need adequate financing. For this, developed countries need to fulfill their commitments on finance and technology transfer," he said.
He was of the view that although there has been a lot of talk on climate change since the 1972 Stockholm Conference, "very little progress" has been made so far. However, India has walked the talk in terms of policies to curb climate change and address environmental concerns, he added.
He emphasised that sustainability requires coordinated action for the global commons. “We must work towards ensuring availability of clean energy from a world-wide grid everywhere at all times. This is the 'whole of the world' approach that India's values stand for", he further said.
Outlining the government's steps towards environment protection along with energy access for the poor, the Prime Minister said: “Equitable energy access to the poor has been a cornerstone of our environmental policy", he said.
He said that 90 million households have gained access to clean cooking fuel under Ujjwala Yojana and renewable energy has been available to farmers under the PM-KUSUM scheme. Under PM-KUSUM, farmers are encouraged to set up solar panels, use it and sell surplus power to the grid to promote sustainability and equity.
The LED bulb distribution scheme that has been running for the last seven years has helped save more than 220 billion units of electricity and 180 billion tonne of carbon dioxide emissions per year, Modi said adding that the national hydrogen mission aims to tap into green hydrogen.
He encouraged academic and research institutes like TERI to come up with scalable solutions to realize the potential of green hydrogen.
"We firmly believe in fulfilling all our commitments made under the U.N.F and Triple C. We have also raised our ambitions during CoP-26 at Glasgow", Modi said.
He also raised concerns over the vulnerability of island nations and said that these 'island developing states' need urgent protection.
"The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (C.D.R.I.), aims to build strong infrastructure in areas prone to frequent natural disasters. On the side-lines of CoP-26, we also launched an initiative called 'Infrastructure for Resilient Island States'. The island developing states are the most vulnerable and hence need urgent protection," Modi said.
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