New Delhi (NVI): India is not historically responsible for climate change but is still taking steps to reduce emissions as a responsible country and member of the global community, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said today.
“India’s contribution to Climate Change is only 3 per cent, so India is not responsible for this problem, but still as a responsible country, we have involved ourselves to find a solution,” Javadekar said on the eve of the fifth year of Paris Climate agreement.
“Climate Change is not one thing that has resulted because of recent actions, it is the historical actions,” Javadekar said while mentioning that historically, the USA has 25% of all emissions, Europe has 22% whereas China has 13% and India, only 3%.
The Environment Minister further said that India is one of the few countries which are Paris Agreement compliant. “Our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) will lead to less than 2 degree rise in temperature,” he said.
“We had committed to reduce emission intensity of GDP by 33-35% by 2030, of which we have already achieved 21% and remaining will be achieved in next 10 years,” Javadekar added.
Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries have committed to a long-term goal of limiting average temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to make efforts to limit it even further to 1.5 Celsius.
-ARK
