India's energy minister declared long-term net zero targets, "pie in the sky." He said poor nations want to continue using fossil fuels and the rich countries "can't stop it". Net zero refers to balancing out any greenhouse gas emissions produced by industry, transport or other sources by removing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere.
"2060 sounds good, but it is just that, it sounds good," Raj Kumar Singh, India's minister for power, told a meeting organised by the International Energy Agency (IEA). "I would call it, and I'm sorry to say this, but it is just a pie in the sky."
Singh singled out developed countries where per capita emissions are much higher than in India.
"You have countries whose per capita emissions are four or five or 12 times the world average. The question is when are they going to come down? What we hear is that by 2050 or 2060 we will become carbon neutral, 2060 is far away and if the people emit at the rate they are emitting the world won't survive, so what are you going to do in the next five years that's what the world wants to know."
Singh pointed out that while it was the richer countries who had burned most of the fossil fuels that have caused the problems, they now wanted developing countries to stop - that was unfair, he said.
"The developed world has occupied almost 80% of the carbon space already, you have 800 million people who don't have access to electricity. You can't say that they have to go to net zero, they have the right to develop, they want to build skyscrapers and have a higher standard of living, you can't stop it," he told the meeting.
Climate change: Net zero targets are 'pie in the sky' - BBC News
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