India ready to fully finance carbon capture technology: Piyush Goyal

Minister of State (MoS) for Power and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal on Thursday said India is ready to fully finance carbon capture technology.

Addressing a plenary session on 'Milestones to 2020, and Beyond under the Paris Agreement' at the '3rd Business and Climate Summit 2017', Goyal said, "People's participation, holistic approach to sustainable lifestyle, better allocation of resources and engagement amongst nations are imperative for climate change reduction. India is willingly and voluntarily working towards reducing carbon footprints in the country."

He added that the country was engaging with universities across the globe to acquire technologies for climate change mitigation.

"The government is ready to fully finance carbon capture technology and is in favour of opening up the technology to all. However, this idea did not find takers as companies wanted to sell technology for a profit. Climate change is being made into a business which is not in the right spirit," Goyal asserted.

Highlighting the initiatives of the Government of India, he said that the government was working out a mechanism on standardizing specifications for charging batteries and creating low cost infrastructure.

"In India, prices have been de-regulated and there was free play of market forces. Besides, low cost financing is being looked at for scaling up renewable energy technologies," Goyal added.

French Minister of State to Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition, Brune Poirson, said that India's commitment of moving away from fossil fuel cars was a significant step and France too was planning to stop the use of fossil fuel run cars by 2040.

"Pragmatic action is necessary but morality is equally important. There is a need for implementation of policies by finding new ways of collaborating. Also, France could learn from Indian how to scale up innovations," she added.

Alluding to climate justice, Dr Gemedo Dalle Tussie, Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of Ethiopia, said that it was the right of all humanity to have clean and safe environment and it was time for all nations to listen to each other's needs rather than remain divided on the issue of climate change.