Global green transition urged

Forum sees leaders, experts call for further action to realize sustainable development goals

A sustainable development forum in New Delhi last week saw fresh calls on the international community to work toward sustainable development goals and fight climate change, with transition to clean and green energy a key topic of discussion.

At the three-day World Sustainable Development Summit, or WSDS, that ended on Feb 24, world leaders and experts called for a global effort to reduce carbon emissions, curb the production of fossil fuels, promote green growth, and boost financing for climate-related initiatives.

The issues at hand are particularly important for developing and least developed countries in the wake of the pandemic, Russia-Ukraine conflict and the rise in food and energy prices, the meeting heard.

Guyana’s Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who spoke at the multiple sessions during the summit, made a clarion call to focus on the principles of equity and justice at international forums such as the G20 and the UN environmental, or COP, gatherings.

He pointed out that it is impossible for many developing countries to achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goals without the necessary financing.

Tunisia’s Prime Minister Najla Bouden said, “These are all challenges which can, in the absence of rapid and collective response, undermine the efforts of the international community in the implementation of the sustainable development goals and further widen the gap between North and South, between ambition and achievements.”

Speaking at the concluding session on Feb 24, Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s federal minister for housing and urban affairs, said the three crises of food, fertilizer and fuel remain the chief challenges as India holds the G20 Presidency this year.

All the crises have a strong link to sustainable development, the minister said. “At the global level we need a paradigm shift from a countrycentric approach to a people-centric approach to climate action,” Puri said.

Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, narrowed down “the three key areas where support and leadership is needed” to make COP28, the UN climate change conference to be held later this year, “a transformational moment”.

Stiell underscored the need for reform in the global financial system to make it fit for a climate-resilient world. “We need to vastly scale up green and climate finance. And we must reduce support for climateincompatible finance to free up capital for climate action.”

Professor Jeffrey D Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University urged the developing world to be the leaders of sustainable development. “We need the whole world in the lead. We need India to be in the lead, we need China to be in the lead, we need Brazil to be in the lead,” he said.

Ugo Astuto, ambassador and head of the European Union delegation to India, highlighted the need to act fast to address climate change. “Even at the current 1.2-degree Celsius warming, every single country in the world is already affected by the climate crisis,” he said.

Nitin Desai, chairman of the governing council of The Energy and Resources Institute, or TERI, the Delhi-based organization that hosted the summit, said there is a sense of optimism as people are presenting solutions to the problems the world is facing, be it is climate finance or sustainability in areas like agriculture and water resources.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said human empowerment is impossible without a better environment, and “the way forward is through collectiveness rather than selectiveness”.