Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed has said there is no excuse for burning coal for enrichment and that the world needs to rapidly de-carbonize the global economy starting with electricity production.
The former President said this in his speech on climate change at the Kigali Global Dialogue on Wednesday.
Speaking at the forum, Nasheed said that, 10 years ago, as president of the Maldives, he was ridiculed for announced plans to make the island nation carbon neutral in 10 years.
“At the time everyone said we were mad. That could never be done, that it would lead to ruin. But fast forward a decade and some 46 countries including many developing countries have announced plans to do the same. Just last week the European Union (EU) debated plans to make the entire 28 block carbon neutral by 2050.”Nasheed
He said that the large developing countries began changing course when the EU discussed cutting emissions 20 percent.
Highlighting India’s contribution to fighting climate change, Nasheed said that Maldives and India had been on opposing sides at the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009 and that Maldives was calling for rapid action against climate change to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees from pre-industrial times, which was essential for the survival of the people on low-lying countries such as Maldives and Bangladesh.
He noted that, in 2009, India and other big developing countries such as China, were blocking progress at the talks by pushing the argument that they had the right to use coal to develop just as western countries have done.
“Thankfully, India’s stance on climate change has done a 180-degree turn. I was at the climate talks in Poland last December, representing the Maldives and India’s position had completely changed. India really helped to push progress on combating climate change and India was supportive of the IPCC report on 1.5 degrees which is really important for the Maldives, and is pushing ahead with plans to deploy solar and nuclear power on a vast scale.”Nasheed
Also emphasizing the need to adapt, Nasheed said that “even if the world stops producing carbon emissions tomorrow, we would still need to adapt to climate change because there is future warming already locked into the system.”
