UN chief urges India, G20 to embrace clean, green transition
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
UN chief urges India, G20 to embrace clean, green transition

Climate Change

TBS Report
28 August, 2020, 08:05 pm
Last modified: 28 August, 2020, 08:08 pm

Related News

  • India cuts excise duty on petrol, diesel; prices to drop by ₹9.5, ₹7 per litre
  • Bangladesh immigrants found guilty in Bengaluru gang rape case
  • Hindu women press for access to Indian mosque, in latest dispute
  • India allows goods import from Bangladesh by rail, framework set
  • Indian police charge 30 anti-Vedanta protesters over deadly 2018 demonstration

UN chief urges India, G20 to embrace clean, green transition

G20 recovery packages showed that twice as much recovery money had been spent on fossil fuels as clean energy, the UN chief said

TBS Report
28 August, 2020, 08:05 pm
Last modified: 28 August, 2020, 08:08 pm
File Photo: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks at the Security Council stakeout at the United Nations headquarters in New York, US, August 1, 2019. File Photo: Reuters
File Photo: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks at the Security Council stakeout at the United Nations headquarters in New York, US, August 1, 2019. File Photo: Reuters

The world is facing the twin crises of Covid-19 and climate change plus the risk that more people could be pushed back into poverty.

As governments mobilise trillions of dollars to recover from the pandemic, their decisions will have consequences on the climate for decades. 

India, like all countries, is at a crossroads now and should speed up its shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy by committing to no new coal projects after 2020, the UN chief said.

UN Secretary General António Guterres said India's subsidies for fossil fuels are seven times bigger than its subsidies for clean energy. 

In the 2019-20 financial year, the country's coal subsidies rose to "$2.06 billion, with overall subsidies to fossil fuel at $11 billion," he said.

So, Guterres, on Friday, renewed his call to India and other G20 countries to invest in a clean, sustainable transition as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UN chief made the remarks at a lecture delivered online to The Energy and Resources Institute.

G20 recovery packages showed that twice as much recovery money had been spent on fossil fuels as clean energy, Guterres pointed out.

"In some cases, we are seeing countries doubling down on domestic coal and opening up coal auctions. This strategy will only lead to further economic contraction and damaging health consequences," he said.

"I have asked all G20 countries, including India, to invest in a clean, green transition as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic," he added. 

"This means ending fossil fuel subsidies, placing a price on carbon pollution and committing to no new coal power plants after 2020," he continued. 

However, the UN chief cited the examples of South Korea, the UK and Germany, and the European Union for speeding up decarbonisation of their economies in domestic stimulus and investment plans in response to the pandemic.

Also, Guterres called on India to take the lead in transforming global economic, energy and health systems to save lives, create inclusive economies, and avoid the threat of climate change.

Investments in renewable energy would generate more jobs than in the fossil fuel sector and boost India's recovery, the UN chief said.

"Investments in renewable energy, clean transport and energy efficiency during the recovery from the pandemic could extend electricity access to 270 million people worldwide–fully a third of the people that currently lack it." 

These same investments could help create nine million jobs annually over the next three years, he added. 

Unlike renewable energy, investing in fossil fuels is "bad economics," he said, which explains "why the world's largest investors are abandoning coal." 

"They see the writing on the wall. The coal business is going up in smoke." 

The coal power plants are likely to become "stranded assets," Guterres noted. "In India, 50 percent of coal will be uncompetitive in 2022, reaching 85 percent by 2025."

However, he lauded India for raising the proportion of renewable energy in its total consumption to 24 percent from 17 percent despite the pandemic. 

Also, the country's coal-fired power use as a share of the total dropped to 66 percent from 76 percent.

And India launched the International Solar Alliance in the form of "One Sun, One World, One Grid" in 2015.

Also, the country is promoting a World Solar Bank that will mobilise $1 trillion of investments in solar projects in future.

India now has 37 gigawatts of installed solar electric capacity. And it has pledged to raise renewable energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030 from an initial goal of 175 gigawatts set in 2015.

Environment / Top News / South Asia

UN / chief / India / G20

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Project delays: The Sinohydro style 
    Project delays: The Sinohydro style 
  • Photo: TBS
    37,000 BO account holders sell all shares in 11 days
  • Photo: Reuters
    Monkeypox: Govt puts ports on alert 

MOST VIEWED

  • Today, 1 billion of the world’s most vulnerable children are at extreme risk. If the world fails to act, tomorrow it will be all children. It is past time to put children at the center of climate action. Photo: Courtesy
    Climate change costing poor women in Bangladesh up to 30% of their outgoings
  • FILE PHOTO: A bleaching coral is seen in the place where abandoned fishing nets covered it in a reef at the protected area of Ko Losin, Thailand
    Oceans are hotter, higher and more acidic, climate report warns
  • An employee monitors molten iron being poured into a container at a steel plant in Hefei, Anhui province September 9, 2013. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
    Steel industry carbon emissions to drop nearly 1/3 by 2050: Woodmac
  • A polar bear and her cub on sea ice in the Arctic north of Svalbard (Image © Larissa Beumer / Greenpeace)
    Climate change is hurting insurers: Report
  • The soaring prices of carbon may encourage the largest polluters in Europe to decarbonise. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Energy firms' climate commitments lack credibility: Report
  • A boat lies on the bottom of Amazonas river, in the city of Manaus, Brazil, October 26, 2015. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly/File Photo
    World could see 1.5C of warming in next five years, WMO reports

Related News

  • India cuts excise duty on petrol, diesel; prices to drop by ₹9.5, ₹7 per litre
  • Bangladesh immigrants found guilty in Bengaluru gang rape case
  • Hindu women press for access to Indian mosque, in latest dispute
  • India allows goods import from Bangladesh by rail, framework set
  • Indian police charge 30 anti-Vedanta protesters over deadly 2018 demonstration

Features

The Buffalo shooter targeted Black people, linking mass migration with environmental degradation and other eco-fascist ideas. Photo: Reuters

Eco-fascism: The greenwashing of the far right

13h | Panorama
Green-backed Heron on a tilting stalk. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Green-backed Heron: Nothing but a prayer to catch a fish  

15h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

‘High logistics cost weakens Bangladesh’s competitiveness’

17h | Panorama
Every morning is a new beginning for all

Seashore

17h | In Focus

More Videos from TBS

Wheat prices double in India

Wheat prices double in India

7h | Videos
Is Washington-Moscow agreement possible?

Is Washington-Moscow agreement possible?

7h | Videos
Pigeon exhibition for the first time in Gazipur

Pigeon exhibition for the first time in Gazipur

11h | Videos
Photo: TBS

US Congress to hold first public UFO panel

13h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

3
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

4
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

5
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

6
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Habitat

The United House: Living and working inside nature

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab