India's climate change actions funded via domestic sources: Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump's statement that India was extracting billions of dollars as aid under Paris climate accord is "factually incorrect", Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

He said India's actions to tackle climate change were funded from domestic sources.

The US decision to withdraw from the Paris pact will affect control of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions as well as international funds for climate change, he said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha yesterday.

Trump had recently announced US's withdrawl from the landmark climate accord, saying the deal agreed by more than 190 nations unfairly benefited countries like India and China.

"The statement is factually incorrect as most of India's climate actions are funded from domestic sources," Vardhan said.

"The announcement of the US government to get out of the agreement is part of their domestic policy. Media reports, however, indicate that the present US government does not believe in occurrence of climate change," he said.

Noting that the US was the second largest GHG emitter, the environment minister said if cumulative historical emissions were counted, the United States would be the "largest GHG emitter historically."

"So its withdrawl will affect control of GHG emissions. It will also affect the international funds for climate change," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that it was "mandatory" to implement the Paris accord, weeks after the US decided to pull out of the deal.

The objective of the Paris Agreement is to prevent an increase in global average temperature and keep it well below 2 degrees Celsius.

The agreement was adopted on December 12, 2015, by 195 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), replacing its predecessor Kyoto Protocol. It was finally ratified on November 4, 2016.