British MP Barry Gardiner has said that though it is important to set climate targets, more emphasis should be given to create polices to attain these goals.
Gardiner also admitted that the current funding by the UK to other countries to enable them to achieve climate targets is ‘critically insufficient’, reported The Indian Express.
The Labour MP was speaking at a World Climate Institute event on Global Leadership in Climate Action hosted by Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Indian Green Building Council in Ahmedabad on Friday (6).
He also described the current state of climate leadership as ‘unscientific’.
“We are acting as if we can stand up against the laws of physics…we can’t argue with planet, we can’t argue with the science and yet what is happening is, governments around the world, leaders around the world are saying that ‘Yea, we will set targets but they won’t be adequate’ or ‘We’ll set adequate targets but then we won’t put in place policies to implement those targets’… Look at what has happened over the past five years – 70 million hectares of productive farmland in India has been lost,” the MP for Brent North was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
He also hailed the role of lawmakers in climate leadership as they make laws and also hold ‘the government’s feet to the fire’.
While mentioning about India’s ambition to overachieve its 2030 renewables target by 66-67 per cent, Gardiner said that that either it is a ‘wonderful achievement’ or ‘the targets were set not in line with the science’.
The British MP said that the global south is increasingly leading the way in climate action.
“Increasingly the world is coming to realise that it is not simply a climate crisis but rather a climate and biodiversity crisis, climate and nature crisis…It is important to have targets but it is much more important to have policies in place to achieve them,” Gardiner, who has been an MP continuously since 1 May 1997, was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
He also urged the UK government to be ‘much more open’ about the commitment the country made years ago.
“We need to be much more open in the UK about the commitment we made years ago as a global community to put in $100 billion a year into the global climate fund so that developing countries can afford to make the transition that they need to make.”
The MP also met Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel at Akshardham, Gandhinagar as part of his visit.
He later said that he discussed the UK-India free trade agreement with Patel.
“A day well spent: Saying my prayers at Akshardham Gandhinagar. Followed by discussions with Gujarat Chief Minister Patel about the India – UK Free Trade Agreement,” he tweeted.
A day well spent:
Saying my prayers at Akshardham Gandhinagar
Followed by discussions with Gujarat Chief Minister Patel about the India – U.K. Free Trade Agreement. pic.twitter.com/a1XofFGFKS— Barry Gardiner (@BarryGardiner) January 5, 2023
Gardiner also visited the Statue of Unity near Kevadia in Gujarat as part of his visit. It is the world’s tallest statue, with a height of 182 metres (597 feet).
“Bring your children! Let them marvel at the statue. But teach them of the discipline, the service, the courage that moulded more than a statue-that moulded the proud nation that is India. Jai Hind. Barry Gardiner, Friend of India,” he wrote in the book for visiting dignitaries on 7 January 2023
The Statue of Unity is a tribute to Indian freedom fighter Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It was inaugurated on 31 October, 2018 to coincide with the birth anniversary of India’s first home minister by prime minister Narendra Modi.
