General Assembly General Assembly

  

Statement  by HE Mr. Prakash Javadekar,  Minister of State (IC) of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Information and Broadcasting (IC), and Parliamentary Affairs at United Nations Secretary General's Climate Summit, New York, September 23, 2014'

 

 

Distinguished Chairpersons,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s Opening presentation in the Climate Summit has effectively put on the table what the world expects from all of us. And in many ways what countries have explained are the contours of their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). 

This is a good beginning.

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

After the largest democratic transition of power the world has witnessed so far, the new Government in India under Prime Minister Modi has attached high importance to action-oriented policies to bring development to our people while addressing climate change.

We have shown that we have the political will to act.

Our Prime Minister has announced an ambitious programme of ‘Make in India’ with ‘Zero Defect and Zero Effect’.

Our slogan therefore is ‘Development without Destruction’.

After assumption of power, the new Government has doubled the Clean Energy Cess from 50 Rupees per ton to 100 Rupees per ton of coal to raise more revenue for clean energy technologies. This fund now has close to 6 billion US dollars.

At the same time, over 15 million US dollars have been allocated to the ‘National Adaptation Fund’; 80 million US dollars for Setting-up of Ultra Mega Solar Projects in several states of India; 100 million US dollars for a new scheme ‘Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based Thermal Power Technology’; and 16 million US dollars for the development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the banks of canals.

This is just the beginning of our ambitious action. Once budgeted, outlays for such initiatives will always increase.

We have 6 billion dollars available for afforestation activities which we are distributing to our States.

Another initiative of the new Indian Prime Minister is ‘One hundred Smart Cities’ with integrated policies to reduce the vulnerability and exposure of urban areas to climate change and also to improve their energy efficiency.

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

As evidence indicates, that countries that have achieved a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.9 or more have per capita energy consumption of at least 2.5 tons oil equivalent (toe) per year.

The current per capita energy consumption in India is just one-quarter of it at 0.6 toe per year, which is a fraction of the figures for the developed world. 

In other words, with today’s technologies and living standards, the energy consumption in India would need to increase by 4 times as India’s HDI increases from the current value of 0.5 to a value of 0.9.

The key challenge therefore is to enable this higher energy consumption at a cost that people are willing and able to pay, and with lower carbon intensity

We are fully committed to achieving our voluntary goal for reducing Emission Intensity of its GDP by 20-25% by 2020 over 2005 level.

In terms of what we are doing to achieve this - doubling the installed wind energy capacity over the next five years, increasing installed solar capacity to over 20000 MW by 2020, achieving 10,000 MW of Energy Efficiency savings by 2020 are only some of the initiatives currently being pursued.

We have also taken policy initiatives in several other areas. To highlight just a few:- enhancing the energy efficiency of coal based power generation, Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) for the design of new commercial buildings, energy standards on high energy consuming appliances, an innovative Perform, Achieve, and Trade (PAT) programme to reduce the energy consumption in industry, and finally, the recently introduced Corporate Average Fuel Savings standards for new vehicles which are estimated to lead to a saving of over 20 million tonnes of fuel by the year 2025.

We have also put in place stringent norms for cement industry. Our Action Plan for cleaning River Ganga will bring multiple benefits of pollution reduction and climate adaptation. We have also taken initiatives for coastal, Himalayan, and forest areas.

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

India remains committed to pursuing a path of sustainable development through eradication of poverty both of income as well as energy.

However, it is self evident that developing countries can do more if finance and technology support and capacity building is ensured. This must be a key focus of international cooperation.

To conclude, our Prime Minister, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat state, had authored a book on climate change titled ‘Convenient Action’. He also mandated me to change the designation of my Ministry which was earlier only Ministry of Environment and Forests. The Ministry is now recognized as the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This shows the importance we are giving to this issue.  

The global efforts which have been displayed today are indeed worth noting.

We look forward to a successful meeting in Lima. It is important to bear in mind that this meeting is taking place under the umbrella of UNFCCC which is the original and the central pillar of negotiations on climate change.  All other efforts can only be complementary in nature.

In my view, if the developed world walks the talk, then we can certainly achieve the targets that we have set ourselves collectively.

I thank you.

 

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