The United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change, Luis Alfonso de Alba, met Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar and discussed India’s initiatives to meet its climate commitments.
Ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York in September, Mr. de Alba, appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as his climate envoy, is visiting several countries and urging leaders and businessmen to do more to ensure that global warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“The Secretary-General is exhorting countries and leaders to come with concrete plans at the meeting and not mere policy statements. We need to be getting into a trajectory to achieve emission cuts to cap warming at 1.5°C,” Mr. de Alba said in a press briefing here on Tuesday.
This implies countries enhancing their nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050, a UN statement noted.
Mr. Javadekar, in a series of tweets said, India was already taking a “leadership position” on achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (or climate goals).
“India had created 80,000 MW of renewable power and set a target of achieving 175,000 MW by 2022; reduced energy intensity by 21%, was increasing forest cover and that the distribution of 70 million gas cylinders under the Ujjwala scheme had helped save trees, reduce pollution and improve health,” the Minister tweeted.
The UN also announced a ‘Clean Air Initiative’ that calls on governments to achieve air quality that is safe for citizens and to align climate change and air pollution policies by 2030.
“The climate crisis and the air pollution crisis are driven by the same factors and must be tackled by joint action. Governments at all levels must have both an urgent need and huge opportunity to address it,” the United Nations envoy said in a statement.
The Summit will bring together governments, the private sector, civil society, local authorities and other international organisations to develop ambitious solutions in six areas: a global transition to renewable energy; sustainable and resilient infrastructures and cities; sustainable agriculture and management of forests and oceans; resilience and adaptation to climate impacts; and alignment of public and private finance with a net zero economy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the summit though this has not been official confirmed.