IPCC report a wake-up call; UK & India working closely on climate agenda, says COP26 President Alok Sharma

Sharma said, “India is the first country that I have been to twice during this year and I hope that demonstrates the importance of India, in terms of delivering success at COP 26. I have had a very constructive set of discussions with ministers here and as you say, we have a 2030 road map. A climate is one of the key pillars of that and we know from the recent IPCC report, it is going to be vitally important that the world comes together and delivers on action when it comes to climate change. The UK and India have already been working very closely on the climate agenda.”

On PM Modi’s pitch for green hydrogen in his Independence Day speech, he said, “I was really encouraged by the visionary speech that the Prime Minister made on Independence Day and there was a lot of reference to climate to biodiversity and I think that is incredibly encouraging, particularly, the reference to renewables, the progress has already been made. But I think this great target of 450 Gigawatts by 2030, and again, green hydrogen, I think it was great to hear that in the plan. I have had discussions with Mr RK Singh and again, hydrogen is an area that we want to try and work together and collaborate on.”

On IPCC report and United Nations called a code red for humanity, he said, “I think the IPCC report is actually a wakeup call for all of us and for all countries. I would describe it as flashing red on the climate emergency dashboard. But of course, what the report also said is that the door is still open, on keeping global temperature limit rises to 1.5 degrees within reach. But we need to act now and that is why I say this is a decisive decade. I do think actually, Glasgow COP26 is our last best chance of keeping global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees within reach and that is why we need to collectively act and show action and commitment at COP 26.”

Talking about India’s stand on reducing emission, Sharma said, “We are continuing to cooperate very closely together and moving forward. As I said, I have been incredibly encouraged by the really constructive discussions that I have had on this visit and those discussions will continue. I think on the issue of not all countries doing more, we know that the G7, for instance, has stepped forward and said that they are going to have ambitious 2030 emission reduction targets.”