Burden to cut emissions falls on developed nations: India at G20

Developed countries had more time to enjoy the 'fruits' of development and consequently had a greater responsibility to cut emissions to 'net-zero' said India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal at the G20 summit on Sunday. 'Net zero' refers to a state of equilibrium where greenhouse gases produced are in the same volume as greenhouse gases taken out of the atmosphere.

Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties or C0P26 being held in Glasgow,Scotland, India's representative to the talks Piyush Goyal said the country will "represent the voice of the developing world" as it fights climate change to ensure a better planet for future generations.

"For now there is no adequate technology to absorb large amount of clean energy into grids. There is a need to look at more technology and innovation before we can identify the year (for achieving net zero)," said Goyal. He hailed the G20 summit for recognising that responsible and sustainable consumption as a critical part of achieving climate goals.

In the Rome Declaration that was released after the Summit, under a heading called "Support to vulnerable countries", the G20 welcomed recent pledges worth around $45 billion, as a step towards a total global ambition of $100 billion of voluntary contributions for countries most in need. What it means is that developed nations of the G20 will work towards a combined $100 billion fund to help emerging economies meet their clean energy targets.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had pointed out that there was a great deal of scepticism from poorer nations as developed countries had not made good on the promise to provide funding to them to accelerate technological development to combat climate change.

The G20 meeting on climate change has received lukewarm reactions from climate change activists who say the emission cuts have not been achieved and that there is no real progress towards fighting climate change.