The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav has said that India is not only working on the domestic front on climate issues, but also setting up an example internationally by launching alliances such as International Solar Alliance (ISA), Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) for combating climate change.
The minister was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day National Climate Conclave 2023 in Lucknow on Monday. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the conclave which is being organised by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in collaboration with the Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Uttar Pradesh, as a part of the government’s endeavour to address climate change and its impacts.
Outlining the initiatives undertaken in the climate arena with focus on green growth in the Union Budget 2023-24, Yadav appreciated the Green Climate Fund (GCF) team for their presence in the conclave and requested all participants to gain a deeper understanding of the GCF modalities and to develop concrete climate projects. He emphasized the importance of engaging youth positively and proactively on climate change issues to encourage sustainable lifestyles.
Chief Minister Yogi said that climate change is the biggest challenge today and its effect is being felt in Uttar Pradesh.
“Uttar Pradesh has a vehicle scrappage policy. We want to ensure that no vehicle older than 15 years runs on UP roads,” the CM said. “Conservation and management practices have been a part of the cultural ethos of India. Our culture encourages compassion and co-existence.”
In his address, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, lauded UP government’s EV policy. He said, “With more than 4.85 lakhs of EVs registered, Uttar Pradesh has the highest share of EVs on its roads. One of the reasons for the high sale of EVs in Uttar Pradesh is the state government’s policy of exempting road tax and registration fees on the purchase of electric vehicles for 3 years.”
Gadkari further said that Uttar Pradesh has set an example for other states to follow in terms of green mobility. “This gives me confidence that UP is perfectly aligned with the national climate action practices. The initiative of Climate Smart Panchayat deserves special mention when it comes to local climate action. This is also an opportunity to learn from each other and collaborate with multiple agencies and stakeholders designing holistic programs,” he added.
Highlighting that the scope, scale and speed of climate finance have to increase considerably, Leena Nandan, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India said, “As an emerging developing economy with ambitious climate plans in place, there are opportunities at various levels including at community level.” She said we expect that GCF also responds in a commensurate way to our readiness for climate actions.
Talking about the government’s efforts to reduce the cost of renewable energy, Ajay Yadav, Joint Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said, “Almost 70% of the cost of green hydrogen is the cost of renewable energy so we have taken a number of steps to reduce the cost of renewable energy. We have come out with green open-access rules. We would be coming out with a subsidy scheme for intensifying the manufacturing of electrolyzers and the production of green hydrogen.”
Manoj Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of Uttar Pradesh said, “The afforestation programme is linked to carbon credits so there are 12 districts where carbon credits have been linked to a forestry programme of a farmer each and every stock has been now taken into an account. In the Conference of Panchayats, we addressed the whole day’s environment and climate, the plastic disposal, and the impact was the immense participation and innovative ideas from the Pradhans themselves.”
Stressing on the need of having a very robust plan for gram panchayats and the cities, Ashish Tiwari, Secretary, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of Uttar Pradesh said, “We are trying to develop models of Climate Action Plans and Climate Smart City Action Plans so that those models can be replicated at a large scale throughout the state. The biggest financing challenge which is coming across is basically climate knowledge and research and downscaling of the data statistics for villages and district level, city level.”
“We are trying to collaborate with research and educational institutions so that various schemes can be brought in that institute and at the local level and those universities can be developed and climate knowledge centers,” Tiwari added.
Climate change can only be addressed by the whole of society in response, said Carolina Fuentes , Director, Country Programming Division, Green Climate Fund, adding that we are trying to mobilize in terms of coordinating with different stakeholders.
“We have mobilized three billion dollars for climate activities in India. We have to work with India on Co-Investment Platforms and Supporting early Warning Systems,” Carolina added.
This Conclave is part of an ongoing effort to accelerate climate action along the lines of enhanced climate action announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP-26. This conclave is also designed to create greater awareness on “LiFE – Lifestyle for Environment”.
The objective was to bring officials from States/UTs of India under one roof to focus on the challenges/issues in climate arena and explore innovative solutions at the local level along with creating a vibrant network of stakeholders who will continue to engage with each other on cross-cutting themes such as risk governance, technologies and innovation as well as domestic and international climate finance.
Dr Arun Kumar Saxena, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of Uttar Pradesh was also present on the occasion.
