Paris COP 21: India, more than 130 other nations to sign Global Climate Agreement on April 22

India is all set to sign the COP 21 Global Climate Agreement in Paris on April 22, Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has confirmed. He said that India has successfully placed the “Sustainable lifestyle” concept in the global discussions on climate change, which is now a part of the Paris Agreement. Javadekar was addressing a session on “Balancing Economic Growth with Sustainable Development” at CII Annual Session 2016: Building National Competitiveness in New Delhi.

“The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track by bringing down global warming by 2 degrees Celsius. It was negotiated in Paris in December 2015 and the terms agreed upon will be ratified on April 22,” Javadekar said. India and more than 130 other nations would ratify the COP 21 Global Climate Agreement on April 22 at a high level signing ceremony that will be convened at the UN Headquarters in New York.

In order to avoid unnecessary delays, the government has enabled online process for the clearances of environment and forests while keeping in mind the environmental conditions, the minister said. He said that the average time of giving approvals has come down to 190 days in last 22 months from 600 days in 2004-09, adding, it will be brought down to 100 days soon.

Javadekar also agreed on creating a special cell that will provide technical advice to industry on various environmental aspects, pollution control processes and associated technologies during the discussions at the session.