India’s climate policy directs towards sustainable development and poverty: Bhupender Yadav
Shri Bhupender Yadav says India’s climate policy is directed towards sustainable development and poverty eradication while striving continuously to decouple emissions from growth and achieve energy efficiency across sectors.
India’s G20 Presidency intends to bring an integrated, comprehensive and consensus driven approach to address climate change and pursue sustainable growth : Shri Yadav
Union Minister for Environment ,Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav has said India’s climate policy is directed towards sustainable development and poverty eradication, while striving continuously to decouple emissions from growth and achieve energy efficiency across sectors.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi today on the issue of ‘The Next Step for Climate Smart Policies’ he said as we enter the third year of UN Critical Decade of Action, with just seven years remaining to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi drafting and ensuring execution of Climate Smart Policies has taken centre stage in India. He said Climate Smart Policies are a very Indian way of life, the term Sustainable Development may be new. However, the concept is knitted into Indian ethos
ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत्।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्यस्विद्धनम् || (ईशोपनिषद् Verse १)
īśā vāsyamidaṁ sarvaṁ yatkiñca jagatyāṁ jagat |
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasyasviddhanam ||
(Know that all things in this moving world are enveloped by God.
Therefore, find your enjoyment in renunciation, do not covet what belongs to others.)
Shri Yadav said Bharatiya ethos has underlined: take from Nature no more than you need. For Nature exists to satiate human need, not greed. We are people who use less, we are people who reuse what we use. Circular economy is part of Indian culture.The Minister said it is because Indians are Pro Planet People that the Nation, with more than 17% of the global population, has contributed only about 4% to the global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions between 1850 and 2019 against the 60% contributed by developed nations. Even today, India’s per capita emissions are less than one third of world’s per capita GHG Emissions.
Shri Yadav said globally India stands 4th in terms of installed renewable energy capacity, 4th in terms of wind installed capacity, 5th in terms of solar installed capacity. In just the last 9 years, installed capacity of solar energy in India has increased by more than 23 times. He said he was proud to share that India’s installed renewable energy capacity has increased 396% in the last 8.5 years.The Minister said these numbers are proof of the fact that Climate Smart Policy is the front and centre of India’s development paradigm. India has emerged as a global example on how development and conservation of environment can go hand in hand.
Shri Yadav said as India assumes the G20 Presidency, it does so leading by example. He said under the leadership of our Prime Minister Shri Modi India achieved its initial NDC submitted in 2015 which were already ambitious in nature, 9 years before the deadline and became the only G20 member to do so. He said not only have we achieved our NDC target before deadline but we have also submitted our updated NDC which seeks to achieve even more ambitious targets along with our Long Term Low Emission Development Strategy Plans at COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh. With this India has joined the list of select 58 countries who have submitted their new or updated LT-LEDS, he added.
Shri Yadav said he does not want to impose an opinion but to kindle an aspiration. He said an aspiration that yes we can work collectively and give to ourselves and our future generations, from Nauru to Russia, from Burundi to United States of America, a greener and cleaner world. He said he was confident that through its G20 presidency, India will work with its partners to put forward a coherent roadmap for climate action and sustainable development which puts the concerns of the Global South at the centre when it comes to making Climate Smart Policies, domestically and globally.
