Two days ahead of the summit, the Dalai Lama had reiterated similar concerns about the effects of climate change impacting the Tibetan Plateau…reports Asian Lite News
As the world leaders gathered in Glasgow to negotiate the nitty-gritties of the climate actions, a young activist has urged them to not ignore Tibet, a region from where 10 major rivers of Asia originate and currently undergoing massive environmental damages.
“The Tibetan plateau is melting yet the world remains silent. If I were Greta Thunberg, I would say, ‘How dare you ignore Tibet?’ Glaciers in Tibet are melting, rivers in Tibet are shortening,” Yeshi Dawa, the activist based in Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh, said in a video sent out on his social media handle.
“Dear world leaders, always remember that Tibet’s environment belongs to the whole world and not just China. It affects all 7.9 billion people on this planet. Please think about Tibet for the sake of this planet,” he further said.
Stating that there is no institutional support, Dawa, the Tibetan-in-exile, said he has been working all alone to spread awareness about the cause of Tibet’s environment. He went all the way to the top of Triund, the highest trekking point near Dharmshala and photographed with a message to the COP leaders to not forget Tibet.
In Glasgow till November 12, leaders, and negotiators from across the globe would be deliberating on reducing carbon emissions to restrict the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era.
Two days ahead of the COP26 inaugural, the Dalai Lama, in a video message, had reiterated similar concerns about the effects of climate change impacting the Tibetan Plateau — the world’s ‘third pole’.
“At least in Asia, Tibet is the ultimate source of water. We should pay more attention to preservation of Tibetan ecology,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said.
New partnerships for Africa to put climate equity, resilience
The mobilization of action and scaling-up of finance for these geographies is critical to advancing the climate action agenda…reprots Asian Lite News
As delegates gathered in Glasgow for the second day of COP26 on Tuesday, real economy leaders join heads on stage to launch new partnerships that will catalyze finance and climate solutions in Africa and Small Island Developing States, and help half a billion farmers to implement regenerative farming practices this decade.
The cluster of new public-private partnerships, which unite captains of industry, finance and philanthropy with leading voices from civil society, such as Xiye Bastida and Selina Leem, address acute climate vulnerabilities countries face while accelerating rates of decarbonisation and resilience building.
New partnerships for Africa to put climate equity, resilience
The mobilization of action and scaling-up of finance for these geographies is critical to advancing the climate action agenda.
This climate action agenda will be at the centre of COP26 and is led by two UN High-Level Climate Champions — Nigel Topping and Gonzalo MuAoz — to drive breakthroughs across regions and sectors to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and build resilience of 4bn people to the impacts of climate change.
As well as the new partnerships, the Champions also announce the latest members of their Race to Zero campaign, which now counts 5,235 businesses, 67 regions, 441 financial institutions, 1,039 educational institutions and 52 healthcare institutions — all committed to contributing their fair share of halving global emissions by 2030.
Of particular note, Mayor Eric Garcetti (C40 Chair) reports that 1,049 cities have joined the campaign under ‘Cities Race to Zero’.
Gonzalo MuAoz said: “This is the decisive decade — the decade to deliver on the promise of Paris and the prospect of a better, safer, fairer, healthier future for everyone.”
Nigel Topping said: “To keep 1.5 degrees alive, we must cut global emissions five times faster than we have over the last decade, which requires transformative action that simultaneously builds resilience, and puts the most vulnerable communities at the heart of the conversation.”
The first partnership is the Africa Green Finance Coalition (AGFC) — a continent-wide collaboration — to spur the trillions of green investment needed to transform Africa’s economy by accelerating green finance policy and regulatory reform to attract private capital at scale, both from international and domestic investors.
Secondly, Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, announced a multi-jurisdictional and multi-asset financing facility to scale public and private finance for climate solutions and resilient infrastructure in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean.
This financing facility aims to invest in approximately 800 megawatts of new wind, solar and EV charging infrastructure projects in Caribbean Small Island Developing States.
This initiative, which will invest in shovel-ready projects, has the potential to generate game-changing impact towards accelerating clean energy transition and deployment in the region.
The third and final partnership is Regen10, a bold new platform to achieve regenerative food systems this decade across 50 per cent of world food production.
Regen10 will work with over 500 million farmers to apply regenerative production methods, while simultaneously ensuring roughly $60bn per year is deployed to finance the transition to reverse nature loss in line with the Paris Agreement.
These initiatives kick-off a full programme of thematic events at COP26 — convened High-Level Climate Champions — starting with Finance Day on November 3 and concluding with Cities, Regions and the Built Environment next week on November 11.
Announcing the launch of Green Grids Initiative, Narendra Modi says India’s space agency ISRO has come up with a solar calculator App that will be useful in deciding location of solar projects, reports Asian Lite News
India’s ambitious programme the Green Grids Initiative (GGI) as part of the One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) combining a massive increase in solar and wind power with international grids on every continent, connecting energy-rich locations such as sunny deserts and windy coastlines, was launched on Tuesday at the COP26 here.
Announcing the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India’s space agency ISRO has come up with a solar calculator App that will be useful in deciding location of solar projects.
Speaking at the session on ‘Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment.’ https://t.co/4bvexwZswy
The initiative combines large-scale solar power stations, wind farms and grids with rooftop solar and community grids, including village mini-grids, to ensure a reliable, resilient and affordable supply of clean energy for all. Accelerate the energy transition in all parts of the world to stay within a safe global carbon budget.
The announcement was made in a session on ‘Accelerating Clean Technology’ by Modi and Summit host UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson. US President Joe Biden spoke immediately after Modi.
A day prior, on Monday, Modi had – along with a net zero goal year – declared that India will enhance its targets to combat climate change by increasing its non-fossil fuel energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030 and meet 50 per cent of its energy requirement from renewable energy by 2030. Solar energy plays a pivotal role in this.
The Prime Minister invoked Suryopanishad, an ancient Indian text, chanted a shloka from it and said, “The energy required by the humans across the whole world in the whole year, the sun disseminates that much in just one hour. For a balanced path, we will need to look at the Sun.”
The OSOWOG will bring down storage needs and also increase the solar projects that are hampered due to weather and day-time limitations, he said.
The One Sun One World One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative advocates the concept of a single global grid for solar and was first outlined at the First Assembly of the International Solar Alliance in late 2018. GGI-OSOWOG has already been endorsed by more than 80 Member States of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
Terming it as “important” initiative as India scales up global cooperation on climate action, Director, CEEW Centre for Energy Finance (CEEW-CEF), Gagan Sidhu said, “Increased electrification from RE is one of the key building blocks for any emissions reduction strategy, and a grid that connects different time zones represents an ambitious alternative to expensive storage on both ends. Not only would it help meet climate commitments, it would also enhance energy security and meet development priorities.”
The grand ambitious launch and the speeches made at the OSOWOG initiative sound like a panacea for all energy related ills. But the real question is will this actually help on the ground within India? Even after the government claiming to take electricity to all villages, there are thousands who live without power.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AustraliaPrime Minister Scott Morrison attends day two of the COP26 World Leaders Summit. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street
“The OSOWOG initiative is not a panacea for all electrification ills, but it is an important step for making the transition to renewable energy possible. An integrated global grid will allow easier trading of renewable energy from where it is best produced to where it is needed. One challenge that many grid connected people face is that the grid is unreliable. By having interconnecting grid across the world, we can ensure that there are less points of failure in the system and hence allow for greater reliability of power,” said Gaurav Gupta, partner and Regional Director for Asia, Dalberg Advisors.
Dalberg was and is closely supporting the International Solar Alliance for the launch of the initiative with a Dalberg team integrated into the OSOWOG Joint-Secretariat (the operating body of OSOWOG) and supporting the ISA.
The UAE welcomed the opportunity to share its capabilities and experience in best-in-class methane performance with signatories to the EU-US led initiative that aims to cut global methane emissions by 30 per cent by the end of the decade…reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has joined the Global Methane Pledge at the COP26 summit in Glasgow building on its position as one of the least methane intense nations in the world.
The UAE welcomes the opportunity to share its capabilities and experience in best-in-class methane performance with signatories to the EU-US led initiative that aims to cut global methane emissions by 30 per cent by the end of the decade.
UAE Joins Global Methane Pledge at COP26
The UAE has long acted as a regional leader in methane reduction. Over five decades, the country has successfully reduced the volume of natural gas flared in the domestic energy sector by more than 90%. In turn, the UAE’s hydrocarbon industry today holds one of the world’s lowest methane intensities of 0.01%.
The UAE will build on this foundation of ultra-low methane intensity in the energy sector to further improve its methane performance. The UAE aims to achieve the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 “gold standard” by deploying advanced technology from drones to satellites, and to decarbonise natural gas to create low carbon blue hydrogen for industry.
Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Special Envoy for Climate Change, said: “We are delighted to join the Global Methane Pledge, in this special year celebrating the Golden Jubilee of our nation. The UAE has continued to lead firsts in methane, since the UAE’s founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, set up the first LNG production company in the Arabian Gulf, reduced flaring and achieved one of lowest methane intensities, still leading today.”
He added: “The UAE is also turning methane into opportunity with our ambitions to convert waste to energy. Together, this makes the UAE a unique leader in methane stewardship. We are delighted to help others, to share our experiences with the world, and commit to the Global Methane Pledge.”
Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, expressed appreciation to the US and EU for leading the call to the Global Methane Pledge that will mobilise tangible actions in endorsing countries.
She also thanked the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for their work on the Global Methane Assessment report, published in May 2021. The document shows that reducing human-caused methane emissions is one of the most cost-effective and impactful strategies to slow down the rate of global warming.
She added: “The UAE is a keen supporter of the global efforts to address climate change. Recognising the urgent need for multilateral cooperation in this regard, we are proud to join the Global Methane Pledge and reaffirm our commitment to cutting down on methane emissions through domestic policy-making and developing innovative solutions.”
The Global Methane Pledge acknowledges that “readily available cost-effective methane emission measures have the potential to avoid over 0.2 degrees C of warming by 2050 while yielding important co-benefits, including improving public health and agricultural productivity.”
The nation’s methane mitigation strategy is part of a holistic approach to climate action. Recognising that agriculture contributes to global emissions, the nation has also partnered with the US and over 30 nations to launch the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate, a global initiative aimed at accelerating investments in R&D for climate-smart agri-tech.
The group of governments called the Green Grids Initiative — One Sun One World One Grid — was announced at COP26 by summit host Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, reports Asian Lite News
A new high-level coalition for clean energy was announced on Tuesday by India and the UK at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, involving major governments, international organisations, legislators, business leaders, researchers, and citizen groups.
It includes a group of governments called the Green Grids Initiative — One Sun One World One Grid.
The group was announced at COP26 by summit host Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
Speaking at the session on ‘Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment.’ https://t.co/4bvexwZswy
In the presence of other heads of government, including US President Joe Biden, the two Prime Ministers presented a One Sun Declaration, endorsed by more than 80 countries, setting out the group’s aims.
A Ministerial Steering Group will lead a process to accelerate the construction of large solar power stations and wind farms in the best locations, linked together by continental-scale grids crossing national borders.
The Steering Group includes France, India, the UK and the US, and will also have representatives from Africa, the Gulf, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
Germany attended the first meeting as an observer while post-election negotiations on a new government continue, as did Australia.
In a simultaneous online event convened by an international network of legislators called the Climate Parliament, members of a broader Green Grids Initiative partnership were introduced.
The group was announced at COP26 by summit host Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
Working alongside the governments are members of parliament and Congress, renewable energy companies, university researchers and international development agencies.
Speakers in the Climate Parliament event also included two leaders of the international youth climate strike, Alexandria Villasenor of the US and Ayisha Siddiqa from Pakistan.
Among the business leaders were Anand Mahindra, Chairman of one of India’s largest industrial groups, the Mahindra Group, and Paddy Padmanathan, CEO of ACWA Power, which holds the record for the world’s cheapest solar power.
The online event was opened by African superstar Angelique Kidjo of Lion King fame, followed by William Ury, author of world bestseller on negotiation “Getting to Yes”.
Research support for the Green Grids Initiative is being provided by the Climate Compatible Growth consortium of universities, which includes Cambridge, Imperial College, Oxford, and the University College London.
Green Grids Initiative Working Groups made up of national and international agencies have already been established for Africa and for the Asia-Pacific region. Their membership includes most major multilateral development banks such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.
The Green Climate Fund, established to channel part of the $100 billion a year pledged by rich countries in the climate negotiations, is leading a Finance Working Group.
The Africa Working Group is co-convened by the AfDB and the African Union, and the Asia-Pacific group is coordinated by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
The International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency are actively involved, as are the ASEAN Energy Centre in Southeast Asia and the SAARC Energy Centre in South Asia.
“One Sun One World One Grid” is a favourite phrase of Modi.
In their One Sun Declaration the national leaders say, “all the energy humanity uses in a year is equal to the energy that reaches the earth from the sun in a single hour. The sun never sets — every hour, half the planet is bathed in sunshine. By trading energy from sun, wind and water across borders, we can deliver more than enough clean energy to meet the needs of everyone on earth”.
In addition to large-scale solar and wind power connected through international grids, the One Sun Declaration highlights the need for investment in solar minigrids for remote villages, smart charging for electric vehicles to help balance green grids, and new financial instruments to attract low-cost capital into clean energy.
Speaking at the launch of ‘Infrastructure for Resilient Island States’ initiative. https://t.co/WMLYr56R0M
Mahindra, whose company is a major car manufacturer and solar developer, said: “Nothing could be more urgent than to accelerate the shift to clean energy and electric transport around the world. Companies like ours need to partner with legislators, governments and international organisations to step up the pace. We will be an active participant in the Green Grids Initiative.”
Former British environment minister Barry Gardiner, whose long-standing personal friendship with Prime Minister Modi played an important role in convening the initiative, said: “In an interconnected world it makes no sense that governments continue to fixate on energy independence. A global green grid will make it possible for power generated anywhere to be utilised everywhere.
“It is cooperation on a global scale to utilise the renewable resources of water, wind and sun and to trade each country’s surplus to where it is required. This is an international political vision equal to the climate challenge we face.”
PM Modi said that the launch of Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States fills us with new hope and beliefs and gives us satisfaction to do something for the most vulnerable nations, reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Tuesday launched the initiative Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) at the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the launch of Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States fills us with new hope and beliefs and gives us satisfaction to do something for the most vulnerable nations.
Launching the IRIS initiative at the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26), along with his British counterpart Boris Johnson, PM Modi said, “The launch of Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States fills us with new hope and beliefs. This gives us the satisfaction to do something for the most vulnerable nations.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP26 Summit (Image: PIB)
Speaking about the impact of climate change on the world, PM Modi said, “The past few decades have proven that nobody remains untouched by effects of climate change. Be it developed nations or nations that are rich in natural resources. It’s a huge threat.”
“Small Island Developing States are most threatened with climate change. For them, it is a matter of life and death, a challenge to their existence. Calamities due to climate change can become devastating for them. It is not only a challenge for their lives but also for their economy,” he added.
The Infrastructure for the Resilient Island State (IRIS) is an initiative to boost the infrastructure in small island countries.
PM Modi reached Glasgow on Sunday to participate in the COP26 summit.
The Prime Minister also held bilateral meetings with leaders of Ukraine, Nepal, Israel, Switzerland, Finland, Malawi in Glasgow, Scotland and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
On Monday, PM Modi met Boris Johnson on the sidelines of COP26. He stated that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accepted PM Modi’s invitation to visit India saying that he would plan his visit as soon as the circumstances allow.
He also met members of the Indian community in Glasgow to strengthen people-to-people bonds between the two countries ahead of his participation in the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP26).
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi meeting with Bill Gates, in Glasgow, Scotland on November 02, 2021.
The COP26 is taking place under the Presidency of the UK partnering with Italy. The high-level segment of COP-26 is titled the World Leaders’ Summit (WLS) and the Summit has participation by heads of State/Government of over 120 countries. The Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to participate in the event. (ANI)
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi meeting the President of Ukraine, Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Glasgow, Scotland on November 02, 2021.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi meeting the Prime Minister of Nepal, Shri Sher Bahadur Deuba, in Glasgow, Scotland on November 02, 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting the Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi meeting with Bill Gates, in Glasgow, Scotland on November 02, 2021.
The two-day summit was held both online and offline under the Italian Presidency of the G20. Indonesia will take over the rotating presidency from December 2021…reports Asian Lite News
The G20 Summit in Rome ended on Sunday with the adoption of a declaration reaffirming the crucial role of multilateralism and international cooperation in overcoming the global challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The “G20 Rome Leaders’ Declaration” pledges to strengthen the common response to the pandemic and pave the way for a global recovery, with particular concern for the most vulnerable, Xinhua news agency reported.
The leaders of the world’s major economies have pledged to use all available tools to address the consequences of the pandemic, sustain the recovery and remain vigilant to global challenges such as supply chain disruption.
Pic credits @g20org
Highlighting the essential role of vaccines in the fight against the pandemic, they vowed to advance efforts to ensure timely, equitable and universal access to safe, affordable, quality and effective vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, with particular regard to the needs of low- and middle-income countries.
“We will take steps to help boost the supply of vaccines and essential medical products and inputs in developing countries and remove relevant supply and financing constraints,” the declaration said.
Regarding climate change, the leaders remain committed to the Paris Agreement goal to hold the global average temperature increase well below two degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Pic credits @g20org
“This summit was a success,” said Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi at the closing press conference, adding that cooperation is essential on issues like climate, wealth and poverty.
“The form of cooperation we know best is multilateralism,” Draghi said, calling on G20 members to act swiftly together.
The G20 members account for almost two-thirds of the world’s population, over 80 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and 75 per cent of global trade.
The two-day summit was held both online and offline under the Italian Presidency of the G20. Indonesia will take over the rotating presidency from December 2021.
The Prime Minister also congratulated Indonesia for the G20 Presidency next year and assured President Joko Widodo of India’s readiness to work closely with the Southeast-Asian country….reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Rome and both sides discussed the recent course of India-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister also congratulated Indonesia for the G20 Presidency next year and assured President Joko Widodo of India’s readiness to work closely with the Southeast-Asian country.
The two leaders appreciated each other’s steadfast support during the COVID-19 pandemic, and agreed to cooperate towards post-pandemic recovery. They also emphasized the importance of Indo-Pacific cooperation, the statement added.
Both leaders committed to strengthen bilateral trade and investment between the two countries, and pave way for greater people-to-people interaction, it stated.
Discussions also took place on combating climate change, particularly on the need for implementation of climate finance commitments, the statement said.
The G20 Summit hosted by Italy for two days (October 30-31), saw the participation of the Heads of State and Government of the world’s major economies to address several key topics of the global agenda.
Modi was addressing the Global Summit on Supply Chain Resilience convened by US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome, Italy…reports Asian Lite News
The three aspects most important to improving global supply chains were Trusted Source, Transparency and Time-Frame, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.
He was addressing the Global Summit on Supply Chain Resilience convened by US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome, Italy.
“It is necessary that our supply must be from Trusted Sources. It is also important for our shared security. Trusted sources must be such that they do not have a reactive tendency so that the supply chain is protected from a tit for tat approach,” PM Modi noted.
He added that for the reliability of the supply chain, it was also necessary that there must be transparency in it. Many companies in the world were facing a shortage of small things due to lack of transparency, PM Modi pointed out.
“If there is no timely supply of essential things, it may lead to bigger losses. We have clearly realized this in pharma and medical supplies in the Corona times. So to ensure supply within a time-frame, we have to diversify our supply chains. And for this, alternative manufacturing capacity will have to be developed in developing countries,” the Prime Minister argued.
According to PM Modi, India had built its credibility as a Trusted Sources of pharmaceuticals, IT and other items.
“We look forward to playing our role in clean technology supply chain as well. I suggest that we instruct our teams to meet quickly to come up with further action plan within a certain time frame, based on our shared democratic values,” he said.
PM Modi pointed out that in the initial months of the pandemic, everybody felt the shortage of raw materials to produce vaccines, health equipment and essential medicines.
“Now that the world is gearing up for economic recovery, the supply problems of semiconductors and other commodities are coming in the way of healthy growth. Who in the world thought there would ever be a shortage of shipping containers?” PM Modi remarked.
Pointing out that India had accelerated the export of vaccines to improve the global supply of vaccines, he said, “We are also working with our Quad partners to supply better and affordable Covid-19 vaccine in the Indo-Pacific region”.
With India gearing up to produce 5 billion COVID vaccine doses for the world next year, it was also very important that there is no hindrance in the supply of raw material, PM Modi noted.
India and UK will jointly launch the initiative Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) at the Conference of Parties (COP-26) in Glasgow on Tuesday, reports Asian Lite News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Boris Johnson, who met on the sidelines of the COP26 World Leaders Summit in Glasgow on Monday reviewed the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 priorities.
Modi congratulated Johnson for successfully organising the COP26 and for his personal leadership in championing global action for climateAchange mitigation and adaptation.
“Marching ahead on Roadmap 2030. PM @narendramodi met UK PM @BorisJohnson in Glasgow today. Congratulated him for successfully organising @COP26. Discussed cooperation in areas like green hydrogen, renewables and cleantech. Also exchanged views on the economy, defence, P2P ties,” Ministry of External Affairs’ spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.
Modi reiterated India’s commitment to closely work with the UK on climate finance, technology, innovation and adaptation green hydrogen, renewables and clean technologies including joint initiatives under International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
The two Prime Ministers reviewed the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 priorities, particularly in the trade and economy, people-to-people, health, defence, and security areas. They expressed satisfaction at the progress in delivering the Enhanced Trade Partnership including steps taken towards the launch of FTA negotiations.
During a press briefing, India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, “PM Modi committed in areas of climate finance technology, innovations and adaptation into green hydrogen renewable clean technology…joint initiatives under International Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi also reiterated his desire to welcome PM Johnson in India soon. Both leaders also discussed regional and global challenges including Afghanistan, Counter-Terrorism, Indo-Pacific, supply chain resilience and post-Covid global economic recovery.
“PM Modi reiterated his invitation to UK PM Boris Johnson to visit India…There was also a discussion on regional, global issues including Afghanistan, counter terrorism, Indo-Pacific, supply chain resilience in post COVID global economic recovery,” Foreign Secretary said.
He also stated that Johnson has accepted PM Modi’s invitation to visit India saying that he would plan his visit as soon as the circumstances allow.
Infrastructure resilience project
PM Modi and PM Johnson will jointly launch the initiative Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) at the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-26) in Glasgow, said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday.
Briefing about the programme of PM Modi at COP26 on the second day, Shringla on Tuesday said, “It will be a very busy day, which will begin with the photo op of the leaders at 8:30 in the morning. You have a special session that would be the launch of the initiative for Resilient Island States (IRIS), which is essentially part of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) that would focus on building capacity, having pilot projects especially in small island developing states that would also involve in some senses, setting up norms and standards for resilient infrastructure.”
During the press briefing, Shringla said that the “Prime Minister has pointed out that, in many cases, lives are lost, but livelihoods and entire infrastructure, housing, everything that is to do with infrastructure is lost with cyclones, etc. Especially small island states and coastal areas the vulnerable to these ravages of climate change. And this is an effort to try and equip countries that are particularly vulnerable to these effects of climate change.”
Foreign Secretary said, “You will have the launch of the Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States called IRIS. This will involve a joint effort between India and the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Boris Johnson will jointly launch and you will have the participation of Australia, which is also a partner in this effort.”
He said that there will be a number of leaders of small island states speaking on this occasion including Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji, Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica and Pravind Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Mauritius. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, will also speak.
PM Modi would be meeting a number of leaders of other countries. He will be also meeting some individuals who are quite prominently associated with the work relating to climate change and socio-economic development, said Shringla.
He added, “In the afternoon, we have an event which is called accelerating clean technology, innovation and deployment. This is hosted by Prime Minister Johnson and essentially, PM Johnson and PM Modi will launch another initiative which is called “One World One Sun, One Grid”.
“Green Grid” which is a UK initiative and “One Word One Sun One Grid”, which is the initiative from the National Solar Alliance proposed by India would both be jointly launched as a new initiative and essentially seek to promote connectivity through solar grids across the world, he said.
“This launch will be with the participation of the US President Joe Biden. We will have the participation of the Prince of the United Arab Emirates. We will have Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh who will be part of that initiative. You also have Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya, who will be also part of this effort,” he said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations welcome Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister to the COP26 summit. Picture by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street
“Both the initiatives– Infrastructure for Resilient Island States as well as the One World One Sun, One Grid– are very, very important global initiatives that are part of our effort to try and get more capacity building, more involvement and, more support to other countries, especially developing countries across the world,” he said.
Referring to another initiative, Shringla said, “There is another initiative, which is hosted by the US president Joe Biden on infrastructure development, Build Back Better, which is also considered linked to the development of resilient infrastructure. The Prime Minister will participate in that initiative as well.”
Prime Minister will be departing from Glasgow at the conclusion of the high-level segment of COP 26, Shringla said. (with reports from ANI)
