Climate finance of USD 100 billion a year and green technologies for mitigation actions promised in 2009 under the Paris agreement are still not on the table for developing countries, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said in Parliament. At the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2009, developed countries had committed to mobilising jointly USD 100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries. This commitment has, since then, been a key element of the international climate negotiations.
“This USD 100 billion is today more than USD 1 trillion. And the finance is not on the table. It is not coming the way it should have come,” Javadekar said.
Therefore, India in its recent talks with all concerned authorities and counterparts has stressed that finance and technological support is very basic for this whole arrangement of mitigating climate change, he said.
Stating that climate change is not an area specific problem but a global issue, Javadekar said, “We need common efforts. It is not only one country doing something and some countries doing nothing. That won’t solve the problem.” So, India has already been emphasising on the finance of USD 100 billion per year, which was promised in 2009, for developing countries to adapt to the situation and take mitigation actions, he added.
The Prime Minister had declared a target of 175 GW of renewable energy to be achieved by 2022. “We are on course to achieve that. The PM has further scaled it up to 450GW by 2030,” he said.
Besides renewable energy targets, 35% reduction in emission was one of the targets under the Paris pact. So far, we have achieved 26%. We will be over achieving our targets. Along with the government, corporates have taken steps to reduce carbon emission.
