International climate regime should move from a ‘country-centric’ approach to ‘people-centric’ approach: Union Minister

Source: The post is based on the article “International climate regime should move from a ‘country-centric’ approach to ‘people-centric’ approach: Union Minister” published in PIB on 24th February 2023

What is the News?

At the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2023, Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs said that “The time has come for a paradigm shift in the international climate regime which has to move from a ‘country-centric’ approach to ‘people-centric’ approach to climate actions”.

What is the World Sustainable Development Summit(WSDS)?

World Sustainable Development Summit(WSDS) was instituted in 2001.It is the annual flagship initiative of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

It was earlier known as Delhi Sustainable Development Summit. 

Objective: It has been conceptualized as a single platform to accelerate action towards sustainable development and climate change.

– It aims to bring together global leaders and thinkers in the fields of sustainable development, energy and environment sectors on a common platform.

Theme for 2023: Mainstreaming Sustainable Development and Climate Resilience for Collective Action.

What are the key highlights from the Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs address at the summit?

On Sustainable development: The world is recovering from a once-in-a-century pandemic; there are geopolitical conflicts in parts of the world; the three-F crisis (food, fuel, fertilizer) threatens energy security and economic uncertainty will continue for the next couple of years.These issues are closely linked to the sustainable development.

Progress of India: The transformational progress of India in water and sanitation, housing, food, energy access, digital connectivity, and financial inclusion have led to an unprecedented ‘saturation of service’.This approach to development resonates with the ‘leave no one behind’ philosophy of the SDGs.

On SDGs: India has shown remarkable progress on numerous SDG targets without causing any negative spillovers while other countries have stagnated.The SDG Report 2022 highlights India’s particularly rapid improvement on SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

India’s path towards Green transition: The Government is implementing many programmes for transition to a greener economy and efficient use of energy across various sectors. 

– We have increased ethanol blending in petrol from 1.53% in 2013-14 to 10.17% in July 2022, and have advanced our target to achieve 20% ethanol blending from 2030 to 2025-26. 

– India is launching a Global Alliance on Biofuels, along with USA and Brazil, during India’s Presidency of G20.