UN chief calls for investment in clean, sustainable fuels

VIRTUALLY DELIVERING THE 19TH DARBARI SETH MEMORIAL LECTURE BY TERI, GUTERRES SAID SUPPORT FOR FOSSIL FUELS IS A CONCERN

NEW DELHI: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Friday renewed his call to India and other G20 countries to invest in a clean and sustainable transition as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, expressing deep concern over the continued support for polluting fossil fuels by nations across the world.

UN Secretary-general Guterres, virtually delivering the 19th Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), said that clean energy and closing the energy access gap are good business.

“They are the ticket to growth and prosperity. Yet, here in India, subsidies for fossil fuels are still some seven times more than subsidies for clean energy,” he said.

Coal subsidies in 2019-20 amounted to $2.06 billion, with overall subsidies to fossil fuels at $ 11 billion, he said.

Guterres praised India for raising the proportion of renewable energy in its total consumption to 24% from 17% despite the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that coal-fired power use has declined by 10%.

He chief said that investments in renewable energy generate triple the number of jobs created by investments in fossil fuels.

“With the Covid-19 pandemic threatening to push many people back into poverty, such job creation is an opportunity that can’t be missed,” Guterres said.

Apart from issues of job creation and concerns about pollution and climate change, coal power plants are likely to become “stranded assets,” he said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presided over the event and delivered the Presidential Address.

The UN chief described as “deeply troubling” the continued support for fossil fuels in so many places around the world.

The Secretary-general elaborated that in India, 50 per cent of coal will be uncompetitive in 2022, reaching 85% by 2025.

“This is why the world’s largest investors are increasingly abandoning coal. They see the writing on the wall. It spells stranded assets and makes no commercial sense. The coal business is going up in smoke,” he said.

Guterres lauded the developed economies and many developing nations for leading by example by shifting to green solutions to meet their energy demands amid the pandemic. He cited the example of South Korea, the United Kingdom and Germany.