Highlighting three extremely critical issues that confront the nation climate change, desertification, and the sustainability-affordability linkage Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said, We can change peoples lives by linking affordability with sustainability.
Yadav stated that the only way to live harmoniously in harmony with nature is to reduce consumption and form a self-restrained community.
His ministry is open to a debate about environment, and he stated that the “our goals” are the same: to ensure a good quality of life for all. We should learn from one another.
The environment report was published at an event at CSE’s state-of the-art residential environmental training center, the Anil Agarwal Energy Training Institute (AAETI), Nimli in Rajasthan.
He stated, “We must link traditional knowledge and scientific temperament; sometimes we are so proud to have traditional knowledge that it is easy to forget logic. It is important to consider logic and affordability as well as tradition in order to make it work.
After almost two years of lockdown-induced pandemics and a physical hiatus, Anil Agarwal Dialogue (the four-day conclave) is back in its physical form.
People can have a positive impact on their lives by combining sustainability and affordability. We must link traditional knowledge with scientific temperament. Sometimes we get so proud of our traditional knowledge that logic is lost. To make it work, we need to consider logic and affordability as well as tradition, he said.
Yadav, referring to India’s efforts towards net zero by 2070, stated that the government was putting more emphasis on the fact that India’s energy sector emitted the most.
We plan to have 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030. By 2030, the railways will be electrified. This will reduce 80 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. We also plan on using LED bulbs on large scales, which can reduce 40 million tonnes of emissions. We are also focusing our efforts on hydrogen. He said that if hydrogen is made affordable and sustainable, then we can make big changes in this world.”
When asked about the Indian position in global climate negotiations, the minister stated that it is not about giving and taking. It is about saving humankind. The developed nations need to take historical responsibility and look back at what their ancestors did in the past.
Sunita Narain from CSE, Director General of CSE, stated that the world has been experiencing disruptions on a scale not experienced before. Both Covid-19 as well as climate change are the results of our dystopian relationship towards nature. We call this the revenge on nature. Covid-19 occurs because we are breaking down the barriers between wild habitats/humans as well as the way we produce food. Climate change is a result of the emissions required for economic growth fossil fuels are not sustainable; our lifestyle is the problem.
She said that they are both linked and being exacerbated due to our mismanagements of the environment as well as health systems.
Narain stated that India must act in its own interest when it comes to climate change. Our climate change strategy must be based upon the principle of cobenefits. We will do anything for climate change not only to benefit the world but also for our own benefit. We need a low carbon strategy for all sectors. We must also ask the developed countries to pay for and provide us with high-cost options in order to leapfrog.
