The Opposition on Friday charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doing a "volte-face" by setting a 'Net Zero' target of 2070 at the climate summit in Glasgow and questioned the rationale behind it.
"Even a week before the COP 26, the Government of India did not show any inclination to announce Net Zero target. Actually, the Environment Secretary had ruled it out in the media," said TMC MP Saugata Roy said in Lok Sabha during a discussion on climate change.
"What prompted and under what pressure the Prime Minister did a volte-face in Glasgow and announced Net Zero target in 2070? Is there any credible research available to vindicate the 2070 Net Zero target? Was any discussion carried out on the Net Zero target," Roy asked. DMK MP Kanimozhi initiated the debate.
NK Premachandran (RSP) accused the developed nations of diluting their climate commitments over the past three decades since the 1992 Rio conference. "The principle of equity has been diluted and lost over the last 30 years. 'Common but differentiated responsibility' has become an insignificant part of the Glasgow declaration," he said referring to the concept first accepted at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 at Rio de Janeiro.
He rued that even the concept of developed and developing countries had been changed at the COP 26 climate summit at Glagow and accused the rich countries of hiding behind poor countries in tackling the challenges posed by climate change.
During a brief intervention, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav said that Central Government is working towards making use of stubble in making biofuels and manure in an exercise aimed at reducing incidents of its burning, seen to be a source of air pollution in the region, including the national capital.
Yadav was replying to Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal who alleged that Punjab farmers were being "defamed" for stubble burning and asked the central government to provide them with resources to deal with it. NTPC had recently procured 3,000 tonnes of stubble and the Government will review its result to see how it can be used for biofuels, said Yadav.
Ramesh Bidhuri (BJP) lauded the Prime Minister's initiatives to popularise use of energy-efficient LED bulbs as an alternative to traditional lighting solutions and offer LPG subsidies which, he claimed, has reduced the dependence on firewood for cooking. Hasnain Masoodi (NC) there is a need to shift towards sustainable development so that nature is protected. He said that Pollution Control Boards are becoming facilitators of pollution instead of preventing it. It is the time to act now to protect the climate, said Benny Behanan (Cong) said during the debate on Climate Change in Lok Sabha. The attitude of both states and Centre is negative on climate change, he observed.
Jagdambika Pal (BJP) said "we should not indulge in blame game... All states irrespective of their political affiliation should work together on the issue of climate change and environment protection." Tapir Gao (BJP) suggested that there is a need to bring in environmental awareness from the school level. There is also a need to tighten laws around environmental protection so that there is deterrence for the exploitation of nature, the BJP member said.