India Not Historically Responsible For Climate Change: Indian Union Environment Minister
India is not responsible for the problem of climate change and is presently contributing only 6.8 per cent of global emissions, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said recently. He said India is the only G20 nation to be in compliance with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Addressing a press meet on the eve of ”Five years of Paris Agreement”, the minister said India is “walking the talk” on climate change as it has already achieved 21 per cent of its target of reducing the emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030. “India”s historical contribution to this phenomenon of climate change is only three per cent. India is not responsible for the problem of climate change. Still, we will do our bit. Presently, we are contributing only 6.8 per cent of global emissions and per capita emissions are only 1.9 tonnes. Thus, our history, as well as present contribution to Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, is low. “We are among the few countries who are Paris Agreement compliant i.e. our actions lead to the maximum temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius which is to be achieved by the year 2100. India is the only G20 country which is complying to the Paris Agreement,” Javadekar said.
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 make efforts to limit it even further to 1.5 degree Celsius. Javadekar said climate change is a result of historical actions and India is not responsible for it. India has only 3% of all historical emissions, the environment minister said adding that its current emission levels are just 6.8% and that it has nearly achieved targets of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). “Climate change has not happened in one day or due to recent actions, for 100 years greenhouse gases have been released in it. The USA is responsible for 25% of historical emissions, Europe 22%, China 13% and India only 3%. India is not responsible for the problem but as a responsible country, we have decided to participate in the mitigation process. “We also need to understand the current situation. The USA has 15.52 tonnes per capita and 13.5% of world’s total emissions, China 8.12 tonnes per capita and 30% total emissions, Europe and UK 6.47 tonnes per capita and 8.7% emissions and India only 1.9 tonnes per capita and 6.8% emissions.
Referring to some reports released this year, Javadekar said as per the Climate Transparency Report 2020, India is the only G20 country to meet its climate commitments/NDCs. Another report – Climate Action Tracker – said India is among the few countries which are on track to achieve its NDCs. ‘UNEP Emission Gap Report said India’s per capita emissions are 60 per cent lower than the global average. Emissions grew just 1.4 per cent in 2019 which is much lower than the average of 3.3 per cent per year over the last decade. ‘Last report, Climate Change Performance Index 2020, said India is among the top 10 high performers rated very high for their well below 2 degrees Celsius compatibility,’ the minister said.