India is taking steps to reduce emission-Javdekar

India is taking steps to reduce emission as a responsible country but we are not historically responsible for climate change. Environment, Forest and Clmate Change minister Prakash Javdekar on Friday said this on the eve of the fifth year of Paris Climate agreement. Historically the USA has 25% of all emissions, Europe has 22% whereas China has 13% and India, only 3%. We are in no way responsible for this climate change,” Javadekar said. “Climate change isn’t an overnight phenomenon. It has taken the last 100 years," he said.

Paris Climate Agreement was adopted on December 12, 2015, by 196 parties. It became effective from November 4, 2016. At present, India is contributing only 6.8 per cent of global emissions and per capita emission is only 1.9 tonnes per capita. In comparison, the emission of the United States os 13.5 per cent of the global emissions and per capita is 15.52 tonnes. China contributes 30 per cent to global emissions while the European Union including the UK contributes 8.7 per cent, the ministry said in its presentation.

The Minister said, India is one of the few countries which are Paris Agreement compliant. He said, India's Nationally Determined Contribution NDC will lead to less than 2 degree rise in temperature. He said, according to the Climate Transparency Report 2020, India is the only G20 country to meet its commitments. Javadekar said the recent report by UNEP also says that India's emissions grew 1.4 per cent in 2019, much lower than average of 3.3 per cent per year over last decade.