Glasgow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among 40 leaders to back and sign up to the UK's Glasgow Breakthroughs, an international plan to deliver clean and affordable technology everywhere by 2030, launched at the COP26 climate summit here on Tuesday.
India joins the US, European Union, China, among others representing more than 70 per cent of the world's economy and every region, to sign up to the agenda. Modelled on the UK's landmark Net Zero Strategy, the Breakthrough Agenda will see countries and businesses coordinate and strengthen their climate action each year to dramatically scale and speed up the development and deployment of clean technologies and drive down costs this decade.
By making clean technology the most affordable, accessible and attractive choice, the default go-to in what are currently the most polluting sectors, we can cut emissions right around the world, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Glasgow Breakthroughs will turbocharge this forward, so that by 2030 clean technologies can be enjoyed everywhere, not only reducing emissions but also creating more jobs and greater prosperity, he said.
The aim is to make clean technologies the most affordable, accessible and attractive choice for all globally in each of the most polluting sectors by 2030, particularly supporting the developing world to access the innovation and tools needed to transition to net zero.
Prime Minister Johnson is setting out the first five goals, the Glasgow Breakthroughs, collectively covering more than 50 per cent of global emissions:
Power: Clean power is the most affordable and reliable option for all countries to meet their power needs efficiently by 2030.
Road Transport: Zero emission vehicles are the new normal and accessible, affordable, and sustainable in all regions by 2030.
Steel: Near-zero emission steel is the preferred choice in global markets, with efficient use and near-zero emission steel production established and growing in every region by 2030.
Hydrogen: Affordable renewable and low carbon hydrogen is globally available by 2030.
Agriculture: Climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture is the most attractive and widely adopted option for farmers everywhere by 2030.
The plan will see countries and businesses work closely through a range of leading international initiatives to accelerate innovation and scale up green industries this includes, for example, stimulating green investment through strong signals to industry about the future economy, aligning policies and standards, joining up R&D efforts, coordinating public investments and mobilising private finance particularly for developing nations.
Delivering the first five breakthroughs could create 20 million new jobs globally and add over USD 16 trillion across both emerging and advanced economies.
The UK says Glasgow Breakthroughs will drive forward global progress to halving emissions by 2030, which is crucial to keeping the limit to temperatures rises to 1.5C within reach, and will support the UK Presidency's key aims to secure global action on phasing out coal and accelerating the transition to electric vehicles.
Leaders will also commit to discuss global progress every year in each sector starting in 2022 supported by annual reports led by the International Energy Agency in collaboration with the International Renewable Energy Agency and UN High Level Champions with annual discussions of Ministers across government convened around the Mission Innovation and Clean Energy Ministerials.
This Global Checkpoint Process' will seek to sustain and continually strengthen international cooperation across the agenda throughout this decade.
India stays off UK-led deforestation declaration at COP26 summit
India is among the countries that has chosen not to sign up to a Leaders' Declaration on ending deforestation by 2030 at the COP26 climate summit on Tuesday, which is signed by over 100 countries including China and Brazil.
The Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use commits the signatories to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation, backed by almost 14 billion pounds in public and private funding.
According to official sources, India had some concerns around linkages made in the final text with trade.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who formally launched the declaration on Tuesday, termed it a landmark agreement to protect and restore the earth's forests.
These great teeming ecosystems these cathedrals of nature - are the lungs of our planet. Forests support communities, livelihoods and food supply, and absorb the carbon we pump into the atmosphere. They are essential to our very survival, said Johnson.
With today's unprecedented pledges, we will have a chance to end humanity's long history as nature's conqueror, and instead become its custodian, he said.
The text of the final declaration covers transformative action in the interconnected areas of sustainable production and consumption; infrastructure development; trade; finance and investment; and support for smallholders and local communities.
We will strengthen our shared efforts to facilitate trade and development policies, internationally and domestically, that promote sustainable development, and sustainable commodity production and consumption, that work to countries' mutual benefit, and that do not drive deforestation and land degradation, the text notes in reference to trade which is likely to have caused some concern on the Indian side.
The declaration will be supported by a pledge to provide 8.75 billion pounds of public finance from 12 countries, including the UK, from 2021-2025. This will support activities in developing countries, including restoring degraded land, tackling wildfires and supporting the rights of indigenous communities.
Countries from the northern forests of Canada and Russia to the tropical rainforests of Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo endorsed the declaration. The UK said together, they contain 85 per cent of the world's forests, an area of over 13 million square miles.
The UK said it will commit 1.5 billion pounds over five years to support the forest pledge.
It will also contribute 200 million pounds, alongside 11 other donors, as part of a new 1.1 billion pounds fund to protect the Congo Basin. The area is home to the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world which is threatened by industrial logging, mining and agriculture.
Need to ensure transparent climate finance: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday underlined the need to ensure transparent climate finance as part of important aspects in infrastructure creation during a roundtable event initiated by US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit here.
Prime Minister Modi participated in a Build Back Better for the World (B3W) roundtable, which included addresses by Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"The PM underlined the need to ensure 4 aspects in infrastructure creation: Climate resilience, incorporating traditional knowledge; prioritising poor & vulnerable; and sustainable & transparent finance that respects the sovereignty & territorial integrity of all countries, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said with reference to the event.
India has been objecting to Chinese infrastructure building in its neighbourhood under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Under the BRI, China and Pakistan are building many infrastructure projects, including in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Biden opened the roundtable with a message that the Glasgow summit should be a decade of ambition and innovation.
"My Build Back Better framework will make historic investments in clean energy, the most significant investment to deal with the climate crisis that any advanced nation has made ever, Biden said.
"It will incentivise clean energy manufacturing, building the solar panels and wind turbines that are growing energy markets of the future, which will create good-paying union jobs for American workers and something that none of us should lose sight of, he said.
