India must show the way in carbon footprint reduction

Western powers polluted the world when they were industrialising, says India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant

Mysore/Mysuru: The T20 Summit’s inaugural evening on July 31 at Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in city was marked by a special address from Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa.

Commending the T20 as a global ideas bank, the Sherpa reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ambition, action and decisiveness during India’s Presidency, a period marked by global slowdowns, debt crises and geopolitical turbulence.

This presents a unique opportunity to channel resources towards supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate action, thus uplifting millions from poverty. To achieve this, initiating reforms in the global financial architecture and stabilising lending rates is critical.

The Sherpa underscored the transformational impact of technology that has enabled direct cash transfers and social protection for millions. While highlighting the global lead that India has in digital payments and data economy, he said that during the ongoing challenges, digital transformation is very important for the globe and India has continuously focussed on it as well as innovating.

“We can carry this Indian model to the rest of the world and transform the India model for the rest of the world simply because the big tech model of the United States will now come to an end as people get more conscious of their digital data,” he opined.

High carbon-emitting companies should face active penalties in this context and India must lead in industrialising without carbonising, he said. He said that Western powers polluted the world when they were industrialising and the emerging markets have contributed very little to this present climate crisis.

The Sherpa said that India has only contributed 1.5 per cent of the 2,800 Gigaton of carbon space available, whereas logically on the basis of per capita income it should be entitled to 17.5 percent.

The plenary panel was followed by the launch of the T20 Communique, a key outcome document that synthesises insights from the T20 Taskforce Statements, policy briefs and the Ideas Box — a novel platform introduced by Think20 India to engage citizens and allow them to share their perspectives.