Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Sunday said that India's climate policy is directed towards sustainable development and poverty eradication, while striving continuously to decouple emissions from growth and achieve energy efficiency across sectors.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue on the issue of 'The Next Step for Climate Smart Policies', he said "As we enter the third year of UN Critical Decade of Action, with just seven years remaining to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals, drafting and ensuring execution of Climate Smart Policies has taken centre stage in India".
The minister said it is because Indians are pro-planet people as the nation, with more than 17 per cent of the global population, has contributed only about 4 per cent to the global cumulative greenhouse gas emissions between 1850 and 2019, against the 60 per cent contributed by developed nations.
"Even today, India's per capita emissions are less than one third of world's per capita GHG emissions," he added. Yadav said "Climate Smart Policies" act as a policy tool for specific action for sustainable development.
"It is unfortunate that the world learnt about the concept of sustainability the hard way," he added. He said we are now witness to how mindless consumption and unplanned development have jeopardised food and energy security across many a nation.
The minister noted that there are developing countries that are reeling under the menace of unsustainable debt and at the same time, are also victims of unsustainable consumption and production processes of the developed world.
Yadav expressed confidence that India, through its G20 presidency, will work with its partners to put forward a coherent roadmap for climate action and sustainable development, which puts the concerns of the Global South at the centre when it comes to making Climate Smart Policies, domestically and globally.