Stating that the maximum impact of climate crisis is being borne by the countries which have no role in global warming, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday said that "loss and damage" due to climate change will be the main agenda at the 27th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Egypt in November.
The Minister was speaking at an event organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry here.
"Loss and damage will be a major topic for discussion at COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt in November this year," he said.
The social and financial impacts of climate change that cannot be avoided are referred to as 'loss and damage'. Although rich countries agreed at the Cop26 UN climate summit in Glasgow last year that there should be a framework for loss and damage, there is no agreement on how it could be funded or who should contribute.
Loss and damage is generally understood to result from both extreme weather events like cyclones, droughts and heatwaves, and slow-onset changes - such as sea level rise, desertification, glacial retreat, land degradation, ocean acidification and salinization.
In some cases, damages may permanently alter some places; for example, rising seas encroaching on low-lying islands, or drought shrinking freshwater resources and turning once-productive farmland into barren land.
Yadav said India is one the few countries which have achieved the target set under the Paris Agreement with regard to increasing the use of non-fossil fuels.
"We have achieved our target nine years before schedule," he said. India had committed to achieving 40 per cent of its installed electricity capacity from non-fossil energy sources by 2030. The country has achieved this target in November 2021 itself.
He said that the developed countries, which have 17 percent of the world's population, account for 60 per cent of the global carbon emissions.
"Whereas, India is home to 17 per cent of the world's population and is responsible for only 4 percent of the global carbon emissions. This is because of our sustainable lifestyle," Yadav said.