Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired the first meeting of the PM’s Council on Climate Change on Monday, has suggested that nations that have the greatest solar energy potential form a consortium. They should all join hands with India for innovation and cutting-edge research that would reduce the cost of solar energy, making it more accessible to the people, an official statement said.
Mr. Modi also asked for concept papers from Ministries on some areas which needed to be integrated into climate change missions — for example health, coastal management, urban waste and wind energy. There are eight missions underway as part of the national action plan on climate change, which were reviewed at the meeting.
Minister of State for environment Prakash Javadekar spoke about India’s proactive role in the Lima climate talks and said it was appreciated by the Council. Mr. Javadekar later said that the discussion centred round review of national and State climate action plans. The expert members on the panel also expressed their views.
Mr. Modi, in his 15-minute speech to members, called for a paradigm shift in global attitudes towards climate change: from “carbon credit” towards “green credit.” Global awareness on climate change was an opportunity to improve the quality of life of the people. It should focus on what India had done for clean energy generation, energy conservation and energy efficiency, and what more could be done in these areas, instead of emissions and cuts alone. There must be a careful evaluation of all the initiatives India had taken so far. The Prime Minister emphasised India’s sanskar (traditions) and soch (thinking), where people nurtured prakriti prem (love of nature) from childhood, the statement added.
Mr. Modi said people’s concerns about climate change must be addressed. He recalled his meeting with leaders in Fiji in November 2014, and the apprehension they expressed. Curricula in architecture and civil engineering colleges, he said, could be reviewed to include energy efficient designs in a big way.
Sources said the Prime Minister wanted existing climate missions to be more integrated, efficient and effective. For instance, the solar mission could integrate wind power and hybrids. There was a discussion on waste to energy projects as well. He also felt there must be constructive engagement in climate negotiations. Presentations were made on climate action plans and the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
Mr Javadekar said 31 States submitted their action plans and some like Uttar Pradesh and Goa were yet to submit theirs. The INDCS were being formulated and studies were underway to help with the technical aspects.
The date for the Council’s next meeting was not decided. Apart from Mr. Javadekar, the meeting was attended by Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Uma Bharti, Radha Mohan Singh and Piyush Goyal. Experts like R.K. Pachauri, Nitin Desai, Ajay Mathur, J.M. Mauskar and Chandrashekhar Dasgupta were also present.
