COP27 Day 2: ‘Climate Finance Still a Mirage’ says India's Environment Minister

'Urgent need for the world to acknowledge the natural hazards that cause substantial global losses,' he said.

Union Environment Minister at India Pavilion at COP27 Summit, Egypt. 

Photo: @byadavbjp/Twitter

Bhupender Yadav, India's Environment, Forest and Climate Change spoke at two separate events on 7 November, 2022 during COP 27 Summit, being conducted at Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt.

He participated in the Middle Eastern Green Summit 2022 and the UN Secretary General High Level Round Table.

India Is on Board With Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan

Speaking at the UN Secretary General's High Level Round Table, Bhupender Yadav announced India's full support towards the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres' agenda for achieving Early Warnings for All.

The Secretary General's initiative intends to use high level communications systems to allow communities to prepare for hazardous climate events.

“We fully support the Secretary General’s agenda to achieve Early Warnings for All. The global pace of climate mitigation is not enough to contain the rate of climate change. There is an urgent need for the world to acknowledge the cascading natural hazards that cause substantial losses around the world.”

Bhupender Yadav, India's Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

He emphasised the importance of continuing the focus given to these issues, especially for communities that are severely affected by extreme climate-related events. With special attention given to adaptation measures in the form of early warnings to protects the lives and livelihoods of those particularly vulnerable to these problems.

He spoke about India's own measures to create early warning systems for all hydro-meteorological hazards. He mentioned the leaps India has taken towards reducing mortality rates by 90% from cyclones over the last 15 years.

"Climate finance is still a mirage, and effective climate adaptation such as Early Warnings For All helps us collectively in our region toward reducing vulnerabilities and ensuring preparedness and swift and timely response to natural hazards.”

Bhupender Yadav, India's Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

A Way Towards Net-Zero: National Hydrogen Mission

The Middle Eastern Green Initiative Summit 2022 was conducted on the sidelines of the ongoing COP 27 events. Bhupender Yadav was a participant at the 2021 Summit held in Riyadh as well, and complimented the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Arab Republic of Egypt for having hosted the event simultaneously during COP.

He continued by highlighting the measures India has taken towards emissions reduction over the last year and the role that people play towards combatting climate change.

He acknowledged the initiatives taken by other countries towards reducing emissions and the innovations made towards green technology and green policy, with special emphasis on Saudi Arabia's agenda towards becoming the world's largest hydrogen producer.

He went on to announce India's commitment towards clean energy sources and it's plan to achieve that through the National Hydrogen Mission. This would be a major leap for India towards meeting their net-zero target.

"Through the National Hydrogen Mission, India has moved towards an environment-friendly energy source. This will help India and many countries of the world to achieve their goal of net zero. India has become a prime example of how progress and nature can go hand in hand."

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, India

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