'India going to Paris meet with progressive & proactive stance'

New Delhi: India is going to the crucial Paris climate summit with a progressive and proactive stance and hopes that "there will be an equitable agreement" including on providing technology support to the developing nations at an affordable cost, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Friday.

"Paris will be a milestone and we are sure that there will be an equitable agreement because India has taken very positive steps not only in renewable but in clean environment, clean energy, clean water, clean air and more greens.

"World has appreciated our INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions). Therefore, I hope the world will understand the need to allow development space to India," Javadekar, who will lead the Indian delegation, said.

Javadekar participated in a live interactive 'Talkathon' on India's stand at COP21. He, along with Power Minister Piyush Goel, answered netizens' queries pertaining to India's participation in the upcoming climate meet including the country's aspirations, outcomes and partnerships.

"We have different kind of states in our country like 10 coastal states, 10 Himalayan ecology states, 60 islands where people are inhabited and two dessert states and due to which our adaptation requirements are also varied.

"And to mitigate the adaptation needs as well as building resilience, we need many new technologies. So, technology support at an affordable cost is the most important aspect of CoP21 Paris agreement because if that comes the developing world would be able to take more robust action," Javadekar said.

Among the netizens who participated the one-hour session was Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who asked about the country's ability to finance the trillions (dollar) required for its INDCs.

"2.5 trillion (US) dollar is the total cost of our action in 10 years. We are today nearly 2.5 trillion dollar economy which we will grow at least triple during this time with 7.5 per cent of growth rate. So it will be great boon for our economy. We will mobilise resources," Javadekar replied.

He said climate change needs to be addressed in a similar manner as HIV/AIDS, noting it could be achieved by selling cheap technologies to developing countries for producing clean energy.

"To fight HIV/AIDS, world did arrive at an extraordinary solution to an extraordinary problem and they made available cheaper drugs. Is climate change not as serious as HIV/AIDS? And one solution is that the company who have done research should not go uncompensated and part of Green Climate Fund should be given to them," he said.

The global climate conference will be held in Paris from November 30 to December 11 to achieve a legally-binding universal agreement on climate change.