India wants to be part of solution, not problem, in climate change debate: Yadav

Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav said India’s focal point for COP 28 will revolve around the issues that were not completed in the last COP

Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav on Monday said that India’s focal point for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28) in Dubai will revolve around the issues that were not completed in the last COP held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav. (PTI File Photo)

“(India wanted to) be a solution for the climate change debate rather than become a part of the problem,” Yadav said, addressing the India Global Forum (IGF) Annual Summit 2023 (Setting the Pace), in Delhi.

“In COP 27 there was an agreement on loss and damage and the meeting for that will start soon and we will go ahead. Apart from loss and damages, the other issue that was not completed in Sharm el-Sheikh is the new quantifiable goal and this too will be fixed. In the Glasgow COP, there was a decision of the Article 6 but the rules of that was not finalised and the main thing is that the developed countries have not fulfilled their commitment as India feels these promises must be fulfilled and the other things which we promised in the last COP was to provide the early warning system to any humanity and country,” he said.

COP 28 will be held from November 30 to December 12, 2023 at the Expo City, Dubai.

Asked if India was trying to find a balance between habitat loss and biodiversity, Yadav said, “We participated in the last Montreal COP also where the worldwide target was fixed and we also supported the idea to reserve the 30% area for the preservation of Biodiversity. We have an independent national biodiversity authority and are also making over 2 lakh biodiversity registers in every village of India and conserving such areas. That’s the reason we are declaring 16 areas as the hot bio diversity spot.”

The minister added, “Apart from that, it’s important to maintain the ecological balance also and under the leadership of PM Modi we are running “Project Tiger” and Project Elephant and “Project Lion” (asiatic lion). India also believes in maintaining ecological harmony and that’s the reason, we brought the cheetahs from Namibia and translocated them in the Kuno National Park. So as far as bio diversity is concerned we are very much committed to increasing the tree cover also and we are amending the biological diversity bill and we are very much committed to it.”

The minister was also asked about India being in the danger line as per a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on March 20 which listed issues and asked what steps the government was taking to tackle them.

“Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report showed that India is in the danger line and is among the few countries that committed their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2015 in Paris and achieved it nine years before. We even declared in our NDC that we achieved the target of renewable energy of 165 giga watt, a target we again achieved in 2021. This is the reason we are among the 59 countries that submitted their enhanced NDC in Sharm el-Sheikh also. Secondly, we also fixed our target of net zero in 2070. India is among the few countries that submitted their law energy carbon roadmap of 2070. Third, we are part of some climate action programs like international solar lines and also partner with Sweden for a low carbon energy program. So we are wary of the path of climate action,” he said.

India Global Forum (IGF) Annual Summit 2023 with the theme of ‘Setting the Pace’ is a day-long summit, featuring 30 themes and 500+ participants that plans to bring together founders, business leaders, policymakers, and investors to deliberate on how India can set the pace in a world-embracing rapid change.

Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Bhupender Yadav and G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant will also mark their presence at the event.