India looking at 'just pact' in Paris Climate talks: Mathur

With nations set to gather in Paris at the end of this month for the latest round of climate talks, a key Indian climate policymaker today said the country was looking at an agreement "that is just and durable" at the meeting to tackle global warming.
Director General of Bureau of Energy Efficiency Ajay Mathur, who is also a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, said India will continue to "proactively push" two fundamental response strategies --adaptation and mitigation--to address climate change at the Paris conference.
"As we go to Paris, we are first of all looking at an agreement that is just and that is durable. It has to be an agreement that you, I, the US, Japan, island states, all of them having ownership of," Mathur said while inaugurating a conference on 'Climate Change Paradigms' organised by Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) here.

Referring to India's ambitious pledge to quadruple its renewable energy capacity to 175 giga watt by 2022 and cut fossil fuel subsidies, he said, if countries ask India to embrace more renewable energy initiatives, it would require "greater degree of financial support and efficient storage technology" from the mechanism to be evolved in Paris.
"...Enhanced ambition, accelerated action would be possible only with additional resources, additional technology access being available. That is what we are looking for in Paris," he said.
Citing the backing out of countries like Australia, Canada and Japan from the Kyoto Protocol, Mathur said, "Is there a point in an agreement in which people can walk out when they find that it is not meeting their goals? Clearly not."

He said Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) approach is an "attractive approach because, we are saying this is what we will achieve."

"And as we will deliver on what we have promised, it builds up our confidence that we can deliver. And it builds up confidence of all our partners, their trust that we will deliver," he said.
India has submitted its "comprehensive and balanced" INDCs on reducing emissions to the UNFCCC.
Mathur's statement comes at a time when French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is visiting India to discuss the launch of an international solar alliance proposed by New Delhi, apart from holding deliberations on the preparations ahead of the Paris climate summit.

France has said that an "effective and equitable" international agreement at the COP21 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius and for supporting adaptation to climate change impacts.
The CoP 21 is scheduled to take place in Paris from November 30 to December 11.