India at UNSC calls on countries to fulfill pre-2020 climate change commitments

India on Tuesday at the UN Security Council called for countries to fulfill their pre-2020 commitments on climate change adding that the idea of climate action should not be to move the climate ambition goalpost to 2050.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council Open VTC Debate “Maintenance of international peace and security: Addressing climate-related risks to international peace and security, Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said that there is no common, widely accepted methodology for assessing the links between climate change, conflict and fragility.

“Fragility and climate impact are highly context-specific. In addition, both peace and conflict assessments, as well as vulnerability assessments, face significant challenges when it comes to data availability and impact measurement,” he said.

“The idea of climate action should not be to move the climate ambition goal post to 2050. It is important for countries to fulfill their pre-2020 commitments. Climate Action needs to go hand-in-hand with the framework for financial, technical and capacity-building support to countries that need it,” he added.

Javadekar called for viewing climate change as a wake-up call and an opportunity to strengthen multilateralism and seek equitable and inclusive solutions to “leave a greener, cleaner and sustainable world for our future generations.”

The Union Minister stated that India is the only country on track among the G20 nations to meet its climate change mitigation commitments. The Minister further said that India is not only meeting our Paris Agreement targets but will also exceed them. India currently has the fastest-growing solar energy programme in the world.

The Environment minister said that India strongly believes that the only way to generate persistent, long-term and positive action in the climate change domain is through partnerships by undertaking collective action to make a lasting and sustainable impact.

“The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure (CDRI) are two such initiatives by India that have been launched to addressing challenges of climate change and adaptation,” he said.