Text of Shri Prakash Javadekar’s Welcome Address at the 18th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change

Text of Shri Prakash Javadekar’s Welcome Address at the 18th BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change

           It gives me immense pleasure to welcome my BASIC colleagues here.  Its rare that all four BASIC Ministers are able to get together – I thank all of you for joining us here today.

          We are at a very critical stage in our efforts to combat climate change.  While science prompts us towards greater action, we find that response of countries is not adequate.  We must incentivise action- the first step in this regard is enhanced action by developing countries.

1.   In India, a democratic transition has occurred very recently.  As the world`s largest democracy, we will play an active role in tackling the Climate Change. We are committed to sustainable development and efficient use and development of all resources including energy.

2.    In our Union Budget for the financial year 2014-15, some important initiatives relevant to climate change have been taken such as:

Ø  Clean Energy Cess on coal has been increased form Rs.50/ton to Rs.100/ton, to raise more revenue for Clean energy and cross-subsidizing solar and other renewable energy  and research in the field of clean energy technologies.

Ø  Rs 100 crores  has been allocated for the "National Adaptation Fund" for climate change.

Ø  Rs. 500 crores has been allocated for Setting-up of Ultra Mega Solar Projects in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Laddakh to promote the Renewable energy.

Ø  Allocation Rs.100 crores for new scheme “Ultra-Modern Super Critical Coal Based Thermal Power Technology”.

Ø  Allocation of Rs. 500 crores for strengthening of transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas under the ‘Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna’.

Ø  Allocation of Rs. 400 Crore for launching a scheme for solar power driven agricultural pump sets and water pumping stations.

Ø  Allocation of Rs. 100 crore for the development of 1 MW Solar Parks on the banks of canals.

3.   We have also encouraged states to prepare their own State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) to take the fight against climate change to local level. 27 states and 4 Union Territories have already done it.

4.   We firmly believe that the issue of climate change and global warming is not country-specific but is inter-dependent in nature and requires cooperation among nations. India has already taken a number of actions on a voluntary basis with its own resources in pursuance of a sustainable development strategy. India has announced a voluntary 2020 mitigation goal of reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by 20-25% over 2005 levels by 2020.  Towards this, India has formulated its National Climate change Action Plan with eight missions, which are being strengthened. We have designed a low carbon strategy for growth and have set up ambitious renewable energy targets.