New Delhi: Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav on Wednesday said that despite not being traditionally responsible for global emissions, India is showing its intention to tackle the problem. Bhupendra Yadav told the G-20 ministerial meeting to discuss environment and climate change issues in Bali, Indonesia, that the promise of financial assistance to combat climate change remains a mirage and its current pace and scale do not match global ambitions.
The primary responsibility for moving toward net-zero emissions lies with countries that have historically been most responsible for accumulated greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, he said. Net zero is the balance between greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere and gases leaving it. Although India has traditionally not been responsible for global emissions, we are showing our intention to address the problem through our actions, he said, adding that we are fully committed to moving towards setting up industries.
He said that India has made significant progress in recent years with measures such as providing electricity to all households and rapidly increasing access to clean energy for cooking, and that India is one of the world’s largest markets for renewable energy. Yadav said that the country’s National Green Hydrogen Mission will prove vital in reducing emissions from areas where reduction is a difficult task. All these efforts require low-cost investment and innovative models to double climate change funding from 2019 levels by 2025, he said. The members of the G-20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Britain, the United States and the European Union.