India along with 100 other nations would ratify the COP 21 Global Climate Agreement which will takes place on April 22, said the Union Environment Forests & Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday.
Mr Javadekar said, “The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track by bringing down global warming by 2 degrees Celsius. It was negotiated in Paris in December 2015 and the terms agreed upon will be ratified on April 22.”
At a Symposium “COP 21 – Building Synergies, Shaping Actions” organized in the University of Mumbai, Javadekar said, “All countries have decided to walk the green path as per their common but differentiated responsibilities… India was always perceived to be a naysayer and negative in its approach and took a corner seat in most of the international conferences. But in Paris, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the concept of climate justice driving home the message of sustainable development.”
The minister said, “The Climate change by 1 degree rise in temperature caused by 150 years of uncontrolled carbon emission by the developed world needs to be reversed. He said while 30% of cumulative contribution was that of the United States, 50% by Europe, Canada and other developed world and 10% by China, India was responsible for only 3% carbon emission but still it wants to be part of the solution. If the developed world followed India’s example and levied higher taxes on coal, billions of dollars would accrue to pursue clean energy programmes.”
“The solar energy mission envisaged 20,000 Mw of solar electricity generation by 2022. But this target has been pushed ahead by the Prime Minister to 1,00,000 Mw (1Gw),” Goyal said. He also said all these programmes will be sustainable only if they become viable economically.
Goyal also added, “While one is aware of pollution caused by the thermal power plants, their importance cannot be overlooked. Therefore, our thrust is on adopting clean coal technologies.”