Asserting that climate change isn't an overnight phenomenon, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said India is in no way responsible for it still it is taking steps to cut down emissions as a responsible country. Javadekar was speaking on the eve of the fifth year of Paris Climate Agreement
“Climate change isn't an overnight phenomenon, it takes 100 years for a change and India is in no way responsible for this climate change. Historically, the USA has 25 per cent of all emissions, Europe has 22 per cent whereas China has 13 per cent and India, only 3 per cent. We are in no way responsible for this climate change," said the Minister.
But as a responsible participant in world affairs, the country chose to take part in combating climate change, he said.
"Our emission intensity was to be reduced by 33-35 per cent as per the Paris Climate Agreement. We achieved 21 per cent of this and aim to achieve the remainder in 10 years,’” said Javadekar while addressing the media here. On December 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the global climate summit on its fifth anniversary, Javadekar said adding that India was one of the few countries, which have complied to the Paris Accord. “Our Nationally Determined Contribution will lead to less than 2 degree rise in temperature,” he added.
“According to the Climate Transparency Report 2020, India is the only Group of 20 country to meet its commitments,” the minister claimed.
“The recent report by the United Nations Environment Plan also says that India’s emissions grew 1.4 per cent in 2019, much lower than average of 3.3 per cent per annum over last decade.”The Paris Agreement aims to hold the rise in average global temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and preferably 1.5C -- a threshold beyond which climate impacts are projected to sharply intensify.
For the implementation of the targets under the Paris pact on climate crisis, the Environment Ministry, a few days ago, set up a high-level ministerial panel. The purpose of AIPA [Apex Committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement] is to generate a coordinated response on climate change matters that ensures India is on track towards meeting its obligations under the Paris pact including its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), a senior official said.