The two-day Indo-German Environment Forum that concluded here on Thursday has brought the two countries closer on the issue of climate change. Germany has supported India’s stand on striking a balance between mitigation and adaptation to combat climate change.
Making a shift from its earlier stand, Germany agreed with India that the money under Green Climate Fund should be used equally for both mitigation and adaptation. Earlier, Germany had said that the fund should only be utilised for climate change mitigation.
German Environment Minister Barbara Hendriks said it is difficult to impose mitigation obligations on India which already has low per capita carbon emission. She accepted that expectations from India cannot match that of China regarding controlling of carbon emission.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar pointed out that as a fast developing economy which calls for expansion of its energy needs, climate adaptation measures along with mitigation formed the defining factor in the country's approach towards development.
While mitigation measures involve actions to cut down emission of greenhouse gases as the use of renewable and clean energy technology, adaptation refers to the steps taken for dealing with the already existent effects of climate change.
Hendriks further added that around $10 billion has been paid to the GCF and it is for India to use 50 per cent of that money for adaptation and 50 per cent for mitigation. "First we were opposed to that idea but then we have been convinced because we realise that adaptation is an important issue as well,'' she added.