Spirit of climate change agreement prevails: Environment minister
NEW YORK: Environment minister Prakash Javadekar said that the spirit in which the Paris agreement on climate change was signed prevails “as of now,” though India believes US elections could have a significant impact on the pact’s pace.
“Much depends upon what happens in America,” the minister, who is in New York for the signing of the pact, told Hindustan Times.
There are concerns about the US in other capitals around the world as it’s not clear if the next president will be as committed to mitigating climate change as President Barack Obama.
Experts say the agreement is safe in a Hillary Clinton administration as she has fully backed it. Prospects seem worse in the hand of Republicans.
Donald Trump said Obama’s statement in Paris that “our No 1 problem is global warming” was the “dumbest” thing he had heard. Ted Cruz, placed second in the Republican race, has pledged to pull the US out of the agreement, which he has called “nutty.”
The world knows these are not mere threats. The US did pull out of Kyoto Protocol, a climate accord, in 2001 complaining it held the developed world solely responsible for global warming.
Can Kyoto happen again? Minister Javadekar said he was confident it won’t. “This time there is more unanimity,” he said, adding, “all parties are in agreement … the whole world.”
Asked for comments on a situation in which the next president is not deeply committed to the Paris deal, the minister said, “Collective wisdom will prevail”.
An official who refused to be identified said “the fate of the Paris agreement in the context of the US elections is figuring in a lot of discussions among leaders here for the signing”.
NEW YORK: Environment minister Prakash Javadekar and power minister Piyush Goyal met US Secretary of State John Kerry here and discussed “a range of issues” including how India and the US can continue to work together on the issue of climate change as major economies.
The two ministers met Kerry on Friday night, hours after the historic signing ceremony by 175 nations of the Paris climate change agreement in the United Nations headquarters.
Javadekar signed the agreement on behalf of India while Goyal co-chaired the meeting of the International Solar Alliance with Segolene Royal, the French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and President of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) on the sidelines of the high-level climate change signing ceremony.
Following the meeting with Kerry, Javadekar told PTI the two sides discussed a “whole range of issues.” A top official said the meeting related to the manner in which India cooperated on climate change leading up to the Paris agreement and how both nations can continue to work together on the issue of Climate Change as major economies.
The two sides also discussed issues related to the Major Economies Forum scheduled for tomorrow and hosted by the US, the official added.
Javadekar will attend the conference. The ministers informed Kerry about the steps India was taking towards sustainable development and tackling climate change, including the 26 new initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi government since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December last year such as the six dollar per tonne tax on coal production and building 500,000 toilets for girl students in schools where there were no separate toilets.