Siddarth Dubey
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts: the concept of needs, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.”
Why the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and American President Barack Obama are advocating the need of Sustainable and environmental friendly development? Over the past two decades, economic growth has lifted more than 660 million people out of poverty and has raised the income levels of millions more, but too often it has come at the expense of the environment and poor communities. Through a variety of market policy and institutional failures, Earth’s natural capital has been used in ways that are economically inefficient and wasteful, without sufficient reckoning of the true costs of resource depletion. The burning of fossil fuels supported rapid growth for decades but set up dangerous consequences, with climate change today threatening to roll back decades of development progress. At the same time, growth patterns have left hundreds of millions of people behind: 1.2 billion still lack access to electricity, 870 million are malnourished, and 780 million are still without access to clean, safe drinking water. The World Bank Group integrates the principles of sustainable development into its work
with clients across all sectors and regions. These principles are also at the heart of the World Bank Group’s mission statement released in 2013 and are aligned with its overarching goals to end extreme poverty and promote share prosperity: “Ending extreme poverty within a generation and promoting shared prosperity must be achieved in such a way as to be sustainable over time and across generations. This requires promoting environmental, social, and fiscal sustainability. We need to secure the long-term future of our planet and its resources so future generations do not find themselves in a wasteland. We also must aim for sustained social inclusion and limit the size of economic debt inherited by future generations.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama issued a joint statement agreeing to make “concrete progress in the Montreal Protocol this year,” building on their prior understandings to phase down of HFCs. In Lima, Peru, December 2014, the UN climate discussions in Lima crossed the finish line, with all countries agreeing to shoulder climate commitments in an agreement to be finalized in Paris next December.
“The Lima agreement sets the table for Paris, but the deal will be meager indeed unless it is expanded to include fast mitigation from other available laws and institutions outside of the UN process,” said IGSD President Durwood Zaelke, who attended the negotiations in Lima.
In Paris, France, November 2014, Parties to the Montreal Protocol continued to make progress in their negotiations to phase down production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), opening a path to avoid the equivalent of up to 200 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from these fast-growing greenhouse gases by 2050, and to avoid 0.5°C of warming by 2100.
“We turned a corner in Paris with China and India indicating their willingness to consider how to move forward to discuss the proposed HFC phase down”, said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. On September 29 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Obama agreed on the need to take urgent action to reduce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the Montreal Protocol, in addition to many other joint steps on climate and clean energy. According to the U.S.-India Joint Statement, the two leaders “recognized the need to use the institutions and expertise of the Montreal Protocol to reduce consumption and production of HFCs, while continuing to report and account for quantities reduced under the UNFCCC.” As part of the broader energy and climate package, the United States will provide support to advance India’s capacity to address climate change and shift to a low-carbon and climate-resistant energy economy, while improving air quality and energy efficiency by making $1 billion available to finance renewable energy and new research and development institutes for developing clean energies in India.“The
US-India partnership offers something critical for Prime Minister Modi’s development agenda, and advances one of Obama’s top climate priorities,” said Durwood Zaelke, IGSD President.
Mr. Obama can help Mr. Modi achieve his development goals by providing a package of energy measures, including assistance to improve the efficiency of India’s air conditioning sector, which can use up to half of the available electricity during the sub-continent’s hottest months. At the same time, the Prime Minister can help the President with one of his signature climate priorities by supporting the phase down of refrigerants know as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, under the Montreal Protocol.
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