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| [PHOTO: Nattu/Flickr/CC BY 2.0] |
India has the potential to emerge as a global leader towards clean energy and tackling climate change, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday.
Speaking at the inaugural session of 15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), Fabius said "no doubt that India will play a leading role in this effort (dealing with climate change)" under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"India's need for growth could be reconciled with a sustainable model of development, " he further said.
As speaker Indian Minister of State (IC) of Environment, Forests & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said that the year was historic for climate change negotiations with three main global events lined up in 2015.
As the chairperson of the COP21 - the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris later this year - Fabius shared his vision and expectations from Paris 2015 at the three-day summit organised by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) here.
He hoped that the Paris talks will have a smooth passage and a new agreement will be reached: "I hope the world will deliver at Paris."
Javadekar stressed that sustainable development goals or SDGs cannot be uniform for all countries. "Their will have to be different targets for different countries, as countries are at different stages of development." Each country's right to development should be respected keeping in view the larger vision of sustainable development.
According to Dr R K Pachauri, Director General, TERI and Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said: "With global impetus on finalizing the Sustainable Development Goals and an agreement on climate change expected at the 21st Paris Conference of the Parties, there is need for a timely initiative in these areas. The summit will provide momentum to such global developments and hopes to chart a roadmap for the post-2015 development agenda.”
Over the past 14 years, the DSDS has been serving as an annual platform to discuss issues of sustainability and relevant policy interventions to ensure a sustainable future.
UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon will participate via video conference in the summit with the theme "Sustainable Development Goals and Dealing with Climate Change".
The 15th edition of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, one of the foremost calendar events on climate change in the world, is underway in New Delhi. The two-day Summit supported by UNDP will focus on sustainable development amidst the complex challenges of climate change.