BENGALURU, India (AP) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the United Nations secretary-general on Thursday launched the Indian government’s flagship program to encourage individual and collective action on climate.
Mission Life, where “life” is an acronym for “environmental lifestyle,” is designed to encourage individual behaviors such as turning off vehicle engines at traffic lights, turning off taps when not in use, and switching to cleaner alternatives. Durable than single use. plastic bags. The government estimates that such actions, if taken on a national scale, could significantly limit emissions, water use and waste.
CLOCK: India’s deadly heat wave shows the real effects of climate change
The program hopes to “mobilize a billion Indians, as well as people from other countries, to become people who practice sustainable lifestyles,” Param Iyer, executive director of Niti Aayog, a government-backed think tank. which spearheads the Mission Life program together with the Federal Environment of India. and Ministry of Climate Change.
UN chief Antonio Guterres, who is on a three-day visit to India and was at the launch of the program in the western state of Gujarat, hoped the focus on more sustainable living “can spread throughout the world.” world”.
While they see the potential benefit of such a program to reduce emissions, climate experts are still unclear on how the project will play out.
“On an individual level, Mission Life is a welcome move, both ethically and environmentally,” said Nagraj Adve of the climate advocacy group Teachers Against the Climate Crisis.
But he added that “the program must be complemented by favorable policies such as higher taxes on income and wealth, more expensive flights, promoting renewable energy and more public transport” to encourage changes in lifestyle.
“It remains to be seen whether the government will work to achieve all of this.”
Source: news.google.com