Mumbai, Oct 19 (PTI) United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said there is a need for a historical pact between developed and developing countries to defeat climate change and to keep the temperature under control.
Speaking at an event at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, Guterres said G20 countries are responsible for 80 per cent of global emissions and they must take the lead in cutting greenhouse gases.
“We need a historical pact in which developed countries strongly support, with financial and technical resources, the emerging economies to allow for combined efforts of the two with extra requirements from the developed countries to allow us to defeat climate and to keep the temperature under control,” he said.
Guterres also urged the emerging economies to take an extra step to close the mitigation gap. But they can only do this with the financial and technical support of developed countries, he said.
“This is the moment in which we will be defeated forever by climate change if there is no historical pact between developed countries and the emerging economies,” the UN Secretary General said.
He said the climate crisis could be the greatest barrier to collective development aspirations, and India is no exception.
It is already a grave threat to India’s economy, agriculture and food sector, and to the health, lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, Guterres said.
“The devastating impact of climate disruption is more apparent by the month. You have felt this across India, from heatwaves in the grain-growing heartlands to flooding in the northeast and coastal states.
“Record-breaking heat waves, droughts and floods in parts of India are causing havoc already. These are a foretaste of what is to come without much greater global climate action,” he said.
Stressing the need for renewables, he said critical renewable technologies, such as battery storage, should be treated as global public goods.
“We need to diversify supply chains and manufacturing capacity. And we must reduce the cost of capital for renewable energy investments in the developing world…I urge India to become a global superpower in renewables technology and a manufacturing hub to fuel this revolution around the world,” he added.
Guterres said some of the most fundamental Sustainable Development Goals have gone into reverse, moving backwards instead of moving ahead. More people are hungry and living in poverty than a few years ago.
“I would like to focus on India’s unique opportunity to shape the global agenda, as a principal player and a model for others,” he said.
As the home of one-sixth of humanity and the world’s largest generation of young people, India can make or break the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, according to him.
“India’s success in translating the SDGs into action will mean the difference between success and failure for up to half of the global SDG targets – far more than any other country,” he said.
India’s recent development journey is characterised by high-impact programmes delivered at scale. This includes the world’s largest food-based social protection scheme and the massive expansion of access to clean water and sanitation services, he said. PTI PR NP NP
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.