Tackle climate, growing inequality together at COP26: Oxfam India

A day ahead of the annual climate summit at Glasgow in the United Kingdom, Oxfam India has called upon the government of India to tackle the twin challenges of climate and growing inequality together at the COP26 summit.

"A failure to confront extreme carbon inequality at this historic juncture will only mean enabling prevalent injustices that will be catastrophic for India," Oxfam India said in a statement.

Oxfam International's 2020 briefing 'Confronting Carbon Inequality' had shown that over the past 20 to 30 years, our limited global carbon budget was squandered in the service of increasing the consumption of the already affluent, rather than lifting people out of poverty. The richest 1 per cent (around 75 million people) were responsible for twice the cumulative emissions of the poorest 50 per cent (3.1 billion people). The two groups that suffer this injustice worst are those least responsible for the climate crisis -- poorer and marginalised people and our future generations.

Starting Sunday, India and other world nations come together at Glasgow to deliberate on mechanisms to contain emissions to restrict global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial era.

"Climate change is happening now. It is already causing extreme weather that is pushing millions of people deeper into hunger and poverty, even though they did the least to cause this crisis. India must demand that developed countries provide more for climate finance to adapt to the impacts of climate change and compensate for loss and damage and enable a just transition," said CEO of Oxfam India, Amitabh Behar.

Stating that "we are dangerously close to missing the 1.5 degrees Celsius goal of the Paris Agreement," Behar said, "The Government of India must demand that developed countries bring down their per capita material and carbon footprint to global average by 2030."

Demanding that there is also a need to prepare and plan for a 'Just Transition' to ensure that the millions of unorganised workers and local communities dependent on the current economy do not suffer due to the eventual and much needed closing of mines and power plants, Project Officer, Access to Energy at Oxfam India, Sandip Chowdhury said, "It is important to ensure social justice is done in this shift towards a renewable future crucial for a climate resilient society."

--IANS

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