India welcomes final climate deal draft

LE BOURGET, December 12: India today welcomed the final draft of an ambitious climate deal as "balanced" and said its concerns have been taken care of in the document. The climate change conference came out with an ambitious final draft of a deal that proposes limiting global warming to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius and committing $100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing countries in coping with the problem. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the differentiation between developed and developing countries, which India has been demanding, is mentioned across all the pillars of action including mitigation, adaptation, finance and access to technology. Terming it as an "important achievement" for India, Javadekar said that "sustainable lifestyles and climate justice" which have been espoused by it also get a mention in the final 31-page draft. He said French President Francois Hollande also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the final draft text was unveiled. "After the first glace of the final text, we are happy that the text contains and take care of concerns of India. It is linked with the convention (United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) while Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) is imbibed in it," Javadekar said "More importantly, differentiation for developed and developing countries are mentioned across all pillars of action -- mitigation, adaption, finance, technology capacity and transparency. That is very important thing," Javadekar said after initial reading of the text. Javadekar said India has been stressing on two important concepts -- climate justice and sustainable lifestyles -- in the last one year. "More importantly for India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always espoused cause of sustainable lifestyle and climate justice. Both have found mention in the preamble of the text. That is an important achievement for India. These two concepts were put up very forcefully by India in the last one year," he said. India wants the concept of 'differentiation' to be clearly spelt out in all elements of the agreement and has been taking the position that developed countries must have a greater responsibility to accept emission reduction targets while they must be the only ones to mandatorily provide financial resources. He said at first glance of the text, it is a "balanced" one and is a way forward for the world. "At the first glance of the text, we express our pleasure that it is a balanced take and takes Indian concerns on board. It is a way forward for the world," Javadekar said. Praising Prime Minister Modi for showing leadership on the issue of climate change, Javadekar said the International Solar Alliance which was mooted by India and launched by Modi and French President Hollande on the first day of the conference is a great success. "This is really what Narendra Modi's leadership has achieved. He led from the front on the issue of climate change. The International Solar Alliance (mooted by India) was a great success. It has brought 120 nations together. "Mission innovation has also started where we are main partners. The renewable programme was applauded by French President in his speech. This is a victory of Modi's leadership and India's persistent efforts," he said. He also hoped that the agreement which is expected to be reached is "historic" and fulfils the aspirations of the people. "I hope that this agreement will be a historic agreement. It will be fulfilling the aspirations of 7 billion people as they want to see that the Earth should be saved," Javadekar said. "Mahatma Gandhi used to say, we owe to future generations because this earth is not inherited from ancestors but on loan from future generations," he said. "The Paris CoP Agreement which is likely to happen today evening will be in that direction," he said. Asked about India's concerns which still remain in the text, Javadekar said that after studying the entire text, if there were concerns, he will speak about them during the meeting.