India for austerity from rich nations

 

New Delhi: As global leaders at the G-20 summit pledged to phase out coal power “as soon possible” and take “meaningful and effective action” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, India urged the developed nations to reduce their “luxurious and energy-intensive lifestyles” so that the developing countries get the margin to meet their required targets for climate goals.

Speaking after the summit ended, India’s “sherpa” Piyush Goyal said the G-20 summit had delivered a strong message as energy and climate was clearly the centrestage of discussions. He said India and several other developing countries had pushed for safeguarding the interests of the developing world. “We were also joined by developed countries to increase the ambition from current levels of commitment,” said Mr Goyal at the end of the summit, where recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, in terms of economy, health, employment, education, tourism and climate action, was also discussed.

The G-20 leaders committed to the key goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, though the climate activists said the summit was a “missed opportunity” and had left a huge amount of work to be done at the COP26 UN climate summit that began in Glasgow on Sunday. 

“We remain committed to the Paris Agreement goal to hold the global average temperature increase well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, also as a means to enable the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.  We recognise that the impacts of climate change at 1.5°C are much lower than at 2°C. Keeping 1.5°C within reach will require meaningful and effective actions and commitment by all countries, taking into account different approaches, through the development of clear national pathways that align long-term ambition with short- and medium-term goals, and with international cooperation and support, including finance and technology, sustainable and responsible consumption and production as critical enablers, in the context of sustainable development. We look forward to a successful COP26,” the G-20 joint declaration said.

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