What is climate activism? It is a process in which people from all over the world gather to put pressure on national and business leaders to take action against activities accelerating climate change and to create a liveable future. This is the nice, standard definition of climate activism. But what really is climate activism? Well, it is just a tool that the developed western world is using to restrict the rise and equitable development of emerging countries like India.
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Eco-fascists and western climate activists have been constantly trying to make the developing world pay for the centuries of sins that the developed countries have committed in terms of industrial emissions. But India is having none of it now. It has stopped taking morality lessons from the west, and made it clear at the UN Security Council on Monday.
India votes against resolution to enable climate change-related discussions at UNSC:
On Monday, India voted against a draft resolution seeking to create a formal space for climate-change discussions at the UN Security Council, and the resolution ultimately fell through following the exercise of veto power by Russia.
India and Russia were the only countries that opposed the draft resolution, whereas China abstained. Sponsored by Ireland and Nigeria, the draft resolution sought to promote climate discussions from the perspective of climate change impact on peace and conflicts across the world.
Why India opposed the draft resolution?
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) already exists as a comprehensive forum concerning all discussions about climate change. So, why should we create a parallel forum for climate change discussions? Also, the UNSC is a limited platform of fifteen members and functions as an unfair club led by its five permanent members- the USA, the UK, France, Russia and China.
Had the draft resolution succeeded, it would have allowed the UNSC to have become the west’s tool to harass the developing world on the pretext of climate activism.
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India too said that the UNFCCC offered an “elaborate and equitable architecture” with equal voice for every country, and adequate recognition of every country’s “national circumstances”.
In an explanation, India’s permanent representative to the UN, T S Tirumurti, said, “It (UNFCCC process) addresses both immediate needs of the developing and the commitments of the developed (countries). It seeks a balance between mitigation, adaptation, financing, technology, transfer, capacity building etc. In effect, it takes a holistic view of combating climate change which is equitable and fair.”
Tirumurti added, “We, therefore, need to ask ourselves what is it that we can collectively do under this draft resolution which we cannot achieve under the UNFCCC process.”
The diplomat then exposed the real purpose of the draft resolution and said, “Why is it that one needs a UN Security Council resolution to take action on climate change when we have commitments made under UNFCCC towards concrete climate action? The honest answer is that there is no real requirement for this resolution except for the purpose of bringing climate change under the ambit of Security Council, and the reason for that is now decisions can be taken without involvement of most developing countries and without recognising consensus.”
India is no longer in mood to play the good boy of the world:
India is making it clear that it is no longer going to play the good boy of the world and let the developed world have its way on the climate change issue. Even during the COP26 summit at Glasgow, PM Modi did make a net-zero pledge, but at the same time he reminded the western nations of their responsibility. “It is India’s expectation that the world’s developed nations make $1 trillion available as climate finance as soon as possible”, Modi said. “Justice would demand that those nations that have not kept their climate commitments should be pressured… climate finance cannot lag climate action”.
India also refused to take the net zero carbon emissions pledge by 2050. PM Modi gave his own deadline of 2070 and walked out, keeping his country at the forefront.
Also read: India should stop being the good boy of the world
The west has been pressurising newly industrialized countries (NIC) like China, India and Brazil to contribute equally to climate action. However, the developing countries are still in the process of achieving the full effect of their respective industrial revolutions, whereas developed nations have burnt their fair share of fossil fuel back in the 1700s and 1800s during their economic revolutions.
Let’s be honest: India must lift its poor out of poverty, which requires consistent development, and this process does come at the cost of pollution, at least till the time sustainable practices become affordable or until the developed nations pool in to make it sustainable.
Now, the west was trying to pull a fast one by making the UNSC a platform for climate-related discussions. However, India will have none of it and will continue its growth story despite the climate propaganda coming from the west.