At world parliament meet in Serbia, India-led climate resolution gets adopted unanimously

Continuing with its proactive policy on climate change, a resolution drafted and negotiated by India was unanimously adopted at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly meet in Belgrade, Serbia. The emergency item was adopted in a session "addressing climate change" at the IPU which is the oldest and the largest group of global parliamentarians. 

Supporting the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the resolution reiterated the commitments of the 2015 agreement to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels.

India in its resolution mentioned the concept of "climate justice" and called on developed countries to take a lead and play an important role in addressing climate change. It also appealed for financial, technological and capacity-building assistance for developing countries by the developed ones to deal with climate change.

The resolution acknowledged that climate change is "anthropogenic" in origin, which means that the change happening due to human activity.

Over 800 parliamentarians or MPs participated in the 141 sessions of the IPU. India was represented by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla along with other MPs including Congress party's Shashi Tharoor.

The IPU started in 1889 with a small group of MPs from 9 countries. In over 100 years, it has members from more than 179 countries.

India's proactive act in Belgrade comes even as India engages much more on climate change issue with international groups such as the International Solar Alliance. New Delhi-backed international solar alliance was founded in 2015 and aims to use solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuel. So far, 79 countries have signed the ISA framework agreement.