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India is undertaking an arduous effort to fight climate change despite accounting for less than 4 per cent of the world’s cumulative emissions so far, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Tuesday.
Delivering the national statement at the UN climate summit in Egypt, Yadav said India responded to the call for increased ambition in the 2030 climate targets and updated its Nationally Determined Contributions in August.
He pointed out that during the last summit in Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the country’s aim of achieving net zero emissions by 2070.
Within one year, India has submitted its long-term low-emission development strategy (LT-LEDS) and indicated low-carbon transition pathways in key economic sectors, Yadav said at the COP27.
“India, home to 1.3 billion people, is undertaking this arduous effort despite the reality that our contribution to the world’s cumulative emissions so far is less than 4 per cent and our annual per capita emissions are about one-third of the global average,” he said.
India had submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Monday its long-term plan to achieve the net-zero target by 2070, emphasising climate justice, sustainable lifestyles and equity. Fifty-eight countries have submitted their LT-LEDS so far.
The minister said the country has embarked on far-reaching new initiatives in renewable energy, e-mobility, ethanol-blended fuels and green hydrogen as an alternate energy source.
It seeks to foster strong international cooperation through action and solutions-oriented coalitions like the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition of Disaster Resilience Infrastructure, both of which were launched and nurtured by India, Yadav said.
“This is a testimony to our ethos of collective action for global good,” he said.
Yadav mentioned that India would assume the presidency of the G20 in 2023 with the motto of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’.
“Our journey towards a planet safe for humanity is one that no nation can undertake alone. This is a collective journey to be undertaken with equity and climate justice as our guiding principles,” he said.
“We hope that the fight against climate change will unite the world as one family,” the minister said.
Yadav also highlighted the Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), a pro-people and pro-planet effort launched by Modi on October 20 in the presence of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
“The world urgently needs a paradigm shift from mindless and destructive consumption to mindful and deliberate utilisation,” Yadav said, adding that the LiFE is at the heart of India’s vision of a safe planet.
“We’re trustees of this planet earth. We must nurture it through sustainable lifestyles that optimise resource use and minimise waste,” he said.
The minister also participated in the LeadIT Summit, an annual event India co-chairs along with Sweden since its launch in 2019, to set the agenda for global conversation on industry transition.
LeadIT stands for Leadership Group for Industry Transition. It gathers countries and companies that are committed to action to achieve goals set out in the Paris Agreement. Its members subscribe to the notion that energy-intensive industry can and must progress on low-carbon pathways, aiming to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
Addressing the summit, Yadav said co-development is the only option to meet the targets that the world has taken for itself.
“Individual action is important. However, the low carbon transition and ultimate net zero can be delayed by decades without cooperation,” he said.
Energy efficiency, material efficiency and step-change technologies like hydrogen and carbon capture, usage and storage hold great potential in reducing emissions from the industrial sector, according to Yadav.
The perform, achieve and trade scheme in India has provided the impetus to enhance the environmental performance of the industries. It covers 13 energy-intensive sectors and results in the mitigation of about 87 million tonnes of CO2 per year, he said.
Yadav urged partners in industry transition to explore and support avenues for increasing climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building to keep up with the momentum.
“Affordability and accessibility of cutting-edge technologies are key to making the business case for low-carbon industry transition,” he added.
The summit concluded with the adoption of the summit statement, which re-emphasised the commitment to continue pursuing the low-carbon transition of the industry. The members also committed to providing technical assistance to new members and emerging economies.
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