Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and R.K. Singh on Thursday parried questions from Opposition members in the Lok Sabha on how India planned to address emissions from its coal plants and whether it had a strategy in place to deal with climate refugees, saying the government had provisioned for these and was en-route to sourcing more of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources.
As part of a discussion in the Lok Sabha on climate change, Dravida Munetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Saugata Roy of the Trinamool Congress wanted to know if the government was prepared to deal with the influx of ‘climate refugees’ or those who would be forced to move away from the coasts and their traditional habitations because of rising sea levels and soil erosion.
Mr. Roy also sought to know how the government proposed to deal with coal plants and the environmental pollution resulting from mining and burning of coal given India’s commitment at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP 26) to increase its share of renewable energy.
