The minister emphasised that developed countries are yet to fulfil their commitments to providing sufficient climate finance to developing nations to address climate-change impacts
India has set an example through its robust domestic climate action and stands among the few major economies on track to fulfil their national plans to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, stated Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.
In his opening address at the environment ministers' session during the second Voice of the Global South Summit, Yadav underscored India's active role in combating climate change, despite its historically minimal contribution to global warming.
The minister highlighted that India's current per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than one-third of the global average. He emphasised that developed countries are yet to meet their commitments to provide sufficient climate finance to developing nations to address climate change impacts.
Yadav reminded developed countries of their pledge to mobilise USD 100 billion annually by 2020 for climate finance and to double their contribution to adaptation finance from the 2019 level by 2025. He noted that 44 percent of India's total installed electricity-generating capacity now comes from non-fossil fuel sources, surpassing the original Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) target of 40 percent by 2030.
Yadav highlighted India's adoption of the green credit programme, designed to incentivize voluntary environmental and climate-conscious actions by individuals as well as public and private entities, aimed at accelerating collective efforts towards achieving a sustainable economy.
India, representing 17 percent of the global population, contributed only 4 percent of global carbon emissions from 1850 until 2019. In contrast, developed nations, with the same percentage of the global population, contribute nearly 60 percent of global carbon emissions.
In August of the previous year, India updated its NDC, committing to reducing the emission intensity of GDP by 45 percent by 2030 from the 2005 level and achieving 50 percent cumulative electric power-installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.