British High Commissioner Alex Ellis on Friday said that India should be a big recipient of the climate funds as it leads the fight against climate change. Speaking at the India Today Conclave Mumbai, Ellis said that climate change is a threat to the whole world and India is one of the most affected by it.
“The tough news is dealing with a great global problem when you have increased global fragmentation and last year leaders including PM Narendra Modi set the course for how do you prevent serious harm to the planet from climate change. They reached an agreement and now you have to implement it and It involves a huge amount of money,” the British High Commissioner said.
Additionally, while most of these funds will come from private companies, India should be a great recipient of this fund and it is going through a great energy transition.
“India is going to go through an energy transition in the next 25 years like the UK and to do that we need to generate money. There needs to be more public money and the UK invests through public funds in great companies. We announced a big investment with Mahindra to develop electric vehicles. PM Modi set India on course for net zero by 2070 and this great energy transition. We don’t really realize what a big change it is going to be and we can not solve the problems of the world without India,” he said.
“India will be the second biggest greenhouse gas emitter just due to its massive population and it can leapfrog technology. Some of the British investments are in those technologies, how do you create better solar power and effective fuel cells, which is a huge opportunity for India’s G20 presidency,” Ellis noted.
India has long said that developed nations need to ensure that developing countries get the funds to fight the menace of climate change. Climate finance needs to rise sharply to $5 trillion a year globally by 2030 to fund measures to fight climate change.
From transport to agriculture and electricity, progress is lagging in all sectors on reducing planet-heating emissions at the pace required to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid its worst effects, a study by five green groups found.
