Developed nations not sincere about keeping promises on climate: Jaishankar
Dec 12, 2022
Abu Dhabi [UAE], December 12 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that developed countries keep promising about tackling climate change but are not sincere about keeping them and are unwilling to "walk the talk."
While addressing the India Global Forum and panel discussion on India-UAE in Dubai, Jaishankar said, "The Climate justice part is that the promises that have been made to the developing world like who are occupying carbon space have kept promising that they would help others. And frankly, they have kept shortchanging the world. And they come up every COP with some new argument, some evasion something which keeps kicking the can down the road."
"The real problem that you are facing today is the same problem we had multiple COPs ago, which is that the developed countries are still not sincere about keeping their promises... The more climate events and emergencies you have, the more there's going to be the sense that these countries are unwilling to walk the talk," he added.
Calling the developed nations a big emitter, Jaishankar said that they should step forward. He also said that developing nations are not the countries which occupied carbon space.
"Somewhere people need to be truthful about it and say who's really responsible for global warming and the countries which are needed to step up," he added.
Earlier also, Jaishankar in the G20's University Connect emphasized the climate crisis while interacting with the youths of India.
"There were longer-term trends like extreme climate whose events are now unfolding with greater frequency and more impact, and, don't forget the perennial challenges that we have faced - whether it is terrorism or black money," said Jaishankar.
Two years ago, the US pulled out of Paris Climate Accord and now is pointing fingers at the developing nations.
But in November, US President Joe Biden affirmed that the country was ready to take back the leadership of fighting a warming planet.
While addressing the United Nations COP27 summit, Biden said as quoted by CNN, "My friends, I came to the presidency determined to make ... transformational changes that are needed, that America needs to make and we have to do for the rest of the world, to overcome decades of opposition and obstacles of progress on this issue alone, to reestablish the United States as a trustworthy and committee global leader on climate. As I stand here before you, we've taken enormous strides to achieve that".
During his speech, Biden apologized for the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord under former President Donald Trump.
"We immediately rejoined the Paris Agreement. We convened major climate summits and reestablished, I apologize we ever pulled out of the agreement," he said.
While addressing the conference, Biden said that the US will be meeting its emission targets by 2030.
"Today, finally, thanks to the actions we've taken, I can stand here as president of the United States of America and say with confidence: The United States of America will meet our emissions targets by 2030," Biden said as quoted by The Hill.
