Ratification of Second Commitment Period of Kyoto Protocol by all Parties is the urgent need of the hour – Prakash Javadekar

Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar has said that India would continue to play a proactive role on the issue of climate change and has already announced a voluntary 2020 mitigation goal of reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25% over 2005 levels by 2020.  The Minister stated this during a meeting with the UK Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, Mr. Edward Davey.

During his meeting with the British Secretary of State, Shri Javadekar gave an overview of some of the key initiatives that had been introduced in the Budget to address the global challenge of climate change. He appraised the visiting Secretary of State on initiatives such as Allocation of Rs. 500 crores for Setting-up of Ultra Mega Solar Projects in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Laddakh to promote the Renewable energy; Allocation of Rs 100 crores for the "National Adaptation Fund" for climate change;  Allocation Rs.100 crores for new scheme “Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based Thermal Power Technology; Allocation of Rs. 400 Crore for launching a scheme for solar power driven agricultural pump sets and water pumping stations;  Allocation of Rs. 100 crore for the development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the banks of canals; Allocation of Rs. 500 crores for strengthening of transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas under the ‘Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna’.

Elaborating further, the Minister suggested that the  scope of the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) negotiations should be extended to all the elements like mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, transparency of action, and support and capacity-building.

During the meeting, both the parties discussed on various aspects of climate change including Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other issues related with the Kyoto Protocol. Shri Javadekar emphasized that immediate up scaling of ambition in the Kyoto Protocol second Commitment period and its early ratification by all Kyoto Protocol Parties is the urgent need of the hour.  The Minister also mentioned that technology mechanism must be fully operationalized and suggested that funds from the GCF can be used to purchase Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of climate friendly technologies and provide to developing countries free of cost. He added that the scientific data should be shared through appropriate technologies in order to provide the intended benefits to the concerned stakeholders.