India Not Responsible for Climate Change, Suffers Consequences:Modi in Paris

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said climate change was a major global challenge, but it was not something India was responsible for. India, he said, is facing the consequences – from depletion of glaciers and coastlines to the risk to farmlands and farmers. The Prime Minister was addressing a gathering at the opening of the India pavilion at the United Nations climate summit in Paris.

“Climate change is a major global challenge but it is not of our making. It is the result of global warming that came from prosperity and progress of an industrial age powered by fossil fuel,” PM Modi said.

“But we in India face consequence. We see the risk to our farmers. We are concerned about rising oceans that threaten our 7500 km of coastline and 1300 islands. We worry about the glaciers that feed our rivers and nurture our civilization,” the Prime Minister said.

India, he said, wants to make conventional energy like coal cleaner. But there are also plans to convert “40% of our installed capacity to non-fossil fuels,” he said.

India contends that developed countries must bear a bigger burden than developing countries to control climate change, since they have contributed largely to pollution over the last 200 years. India’s 25-member delegation will focus on PM Modi’s call for “climate Justice” and “common but differentiated responsibilities.”

Nearly 150 heads of state began an 11-day whirlwind day of talks in the French capital today, aimed at ending a two-decade bickering and forge an elusive agreement to stave off calamitous global warming by limiting emissions of greenhouse gases.

19 governments, including the US, China and India, will join a “Mission Innovation” initiative that commits governments to doubling public investment in basic energy research over the next five years.

183 nations have submitted national action plans, but they are not enough to achieve a goal of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Degrees Fahrenheit). Two degrees Celsius is the threshold at which scientists say the worst impacts of global warming will be inevitable.

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Source:NDTV