New York: India will take action on climate change not “at somebody’s dictation” but on its own volition, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “very much interested in climate change and environmental issues. He has proved it in Gujarat for 12 years that both conservation and protection of environment along with development is simultaneously possible,” Javadekar said.
Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Javadekar was here on Tuesday to represent India at the high-level Climate Change summit organised by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
He said Modi’s absence from the summit does not mean that India is not serious about climate change.
“We are serious. (Modi) is committed (on climate change issues). We are doing our action but it is not at somebody’s dictation, it is on our own volition,” he said.
Javadekar stressed India demands the developed world “should not come out with new terminology” every time but “now walk the talk” on tackling climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“What we expect from the world is that the developed world must walk the talk on the Green Climate Fund as well as cutting their emissions,” he said adding that for India, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the real mandate.
While there can be complimentary efforts to strengthen action, Javadekar said that parallel efforts will divert attention.
“We want to work under the UNFCCC mandate. There is scope for negotiations. We expect that Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) are determined nationally and not internationally,” he said.
Javadekar said while India’s INDCs will be “ambitious enough”, at the same time basic principles of equity are also important.
“All will take responsibility, all will act but responsibility of developed countries is different and that must be recognised,” he said.
Javadekar said India expects the UN climate conference in Lima in December should bring out more contours, more basic framework of the text which will be ultimately negotiated in Paris next year.
“The process of INDCs will gear up by that time. That can be discussed as good practices but they cannot be subjected to any kind of scrutiny,” he said.