NEW DELHI: A new leadership group, to be led by India and Sweden, was announced at the United Nations Climate Action Summit to help guide the world's heaviest greenhouse gas emitting industries towards low-carbon economy, an official of the Union Ministry of Environment said on Tuesday.
Besides India and Sweden, the other countries which are the part of the initiative include Argentina, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea and the UK, he said, adding several companies are also an active part of the group.
The new leadership group will drive transformation in hard-to-decarbonise and energy-intensive sectors.
"This global initiative will be supported by the World Economic Forum, the Energy Transitions Commission, Mission Innovation, Stockholm Environment Institute, and the European Climate Foundation among many others in an ambitious, public-private effort, to ensure heavy industries and mobility companies can find a workable pathway to deliver on the Paris Agreement," the ministry official said.
Addressing a press conference in New York, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "The last two days have seen major takeaways, including the decision that heavy industries who are doing their bit on their own, without any external help, have decided to have a low carbon path."
Welcoming this new public-private partnership, professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of World Economic Forum said, "There is a huge level of support and enthusiasm in the private sector to engage with governments and peers to reduce emissions across their operations and value chains."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing world leaders at the summit on Monday, had called for a "global people's movement" to bring about a behavioral change to deal with climate change as he made a path-breaking pledge to more than double India's non-fossil fuel target to 400 gigawatts.