Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged the world leaders to keep the focus on climate change and asserted that India is exceeding the target of the Paris agreement. He also said the entire world can progress faster if there is greater support of technology and finance to developing nations.
Addressing the G20 side event on “Safeguarding the Planet”, Modi said India is not only meeting its Paris Agreement targets but also exceeding them.
Saudi Arabia, which assumed the G20 presidency this year, is the host of the virtual summit that is bringing together leaders from the world’s richest and most developed economies, such as the US, China, India, Turkey, France, the UK and Brazil, among others.
Modi said India’s focus is on saving citizens and the economy from pandemic while keeping the pace of fighting climate change. He informed the G20 leaders that India’s aim is to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by the year 2030 and encourage a circular economy.
“Today, we are focused on saving our citizens and economies from the effects of the global pandemic. Equally important is to keep our focus on fighting climate change. Climate change must be fought not in silos but in an integrated, comprehensive, and holistic way. Inspired by our traditional ethos of living in harmony with the environment, and the commitment of my Government, India has adopted low-carbon and climate-resilient development practices.
“I am glad to share that India is not only meeting our Paris Agreement targets, but also exceeding them. India has taken concrete action in many areas. We have made LED lights popular. This saves 38 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
“Smoke-free kitchens have been provided to over 80 million households through our Ujjwala Scheme. This is among the largest clean energy drives globally,” said Modi.
The PM said that India is doing efforts to eliminate single-use plastics and increasing the forest cover. He also said that the population of wild animals such as lion and tiger are increasing in India.
Modi said that India is making next-generation infrastructure such as metro networks, water-ways and more.
“ In addition to convenience and efficiency, they will also contribute to a cleaner environment. We will meet our goal of 175 Giga Watts of renewable energy well before the target of 2022. Now, we are taking a big step ahead by seeking to achieve 450 Giga Watts by 2030,” he said.
The Prime Minister reiterated worldwide support for ‘The International Solar Alliance’ and also asked for more countries’ participation in the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). “18 countries - including 9 from among the G20 - and 4 international organizations have already joined the Coalition. CDRI has started work on increasing the resilience of critical infrastructure. Infra damage during natural disasters is a subject that has not got the attention it deserves. The poorer nations are especially impacted by this. Therefore, this Coalition is important,” pointed out Modi.
He also said that this is the best time for further increasing research and innovation in new and sustainable technologies. “We should do so with a spirit of cooperation and collaboration. The entire world can progress faster if there is greater support of technology and finance to the developing world.
For humanity to prosper, every single individual must prosper. Rather than seeing labour as a factor of production alone, the focus must be on the human dignity of every worker. Such an approach would be the best guarantee for safeguarding our planet<’ said Modi.
