Leading environmentalist Sunita Narain said India can play an even bigger role in climate talks by becoming the voice of the Global South and highlighting the challenges they face. Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to host the UN Climate Summit in 2028.
Narayan, Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said the Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the only forum where multilateral decisions can be taken to address challenges posed by climate change.
He said, ‘We can play an even bigger role as a country that stands up for the countries of the South. We have challenges. We can talk about our challenges, not suppress them. We can help the world find a better way to move forward. We can play a leadership role.
PM Modi had offered to host the climate summit in India in 2028 in his address at the Conference of Parties (COP-28) in Dubai. All countries will chair the COP in turn. The next opportunity for India will be in 2028, when Asia will get its turn. All countries in that group will have to agree unanimously on Modi’s bid, only then it will be confirmed.
We should host the COP
Narayan said that we should host the COP and of course we should talk. Look, climate change is a big problem of the world. It cannot be solved bilaterally. It is a multilateral issue. He further said that climate change is a way to re-learn socialism, because it is about a shared environment, where countries have to learn to live together, whether they like it or not.
He said, ‘The UN talks are the only forum where you take multilateral decisions.’
Who is Narayan?
Narain was a member of the advisory panel to COP-28 President Sultan Al Jaber. Al Jaber is also the head of oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, fuelling activists’ concerns that big industry is taking control of the global response to the environmental crisis.
I was also criticized a lot
Narayan said, ‘A lot of criticism has been leveled at me too, but he is an oil producer. Why are you advising an oil producer? But it is important. I think it is important for us to come to a consensus on what are we going to do with fossil fuels? How will they be reduced.’
