Bhubaneswar: The British Deputy High Commission, Kolkata and the state government Thursday collaboratively organised United Kingdom-Odisha Dialogue on the upcoming 26th meeting of Conference of the Parties (COP26), and Clean Energy and Clean Transport Transition with support from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
There are five key themes for COP26 Climate Summit: clean energy, clean transport, adaptation and resilience, nature-based solutions and green finance.
The virtual webinar held Thursday focused on two of the key themes-clean energy and clean transport. This high-level conference set the stage for focused discussions on strategic and innovative interventions to accelerate the transition towards zero emission vehicles and the adoption of cleaner energy as Odisha progresses its portfolio of sustainable development policies and pathways.
The event highlighted that the UK is ready to trade with the Odisha government and support the state in its clean energy transition journey in every possible way.
In the programme, British Deputy High Commissioner to Kolkata, Nick Low said, “As we’ve seen from its disaster response to Cyclone Amphan and Yaas, Odisha’s achievement in climate change adaptation has been immense. There is so much that we can and should do at the local and regional level to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through adopting clean and green energy and transport solutions. It’s a journey that my own country has made, reducing the proportion of electricity produced by burning coal from 40 per cent in 2014 to 2 per cent today.”
State Science & Technology secretary Manoj Mishra said, “Accelerated transition to clean energy and clean transport is the top priority for the Odisha government in order to mitigate impacts of climate change and adopt a sustainable roadmap towards green recovery. We are indeed pleased to partner with the UK in exchanging knowledge and practices for driving up climate ambition.”
Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said, “We have come together today, exactly three months before COP 26, to deliberate on ways to deal with climate crisis and discuss key strategies to up our game on climate action.”
The world needs greater ambition from companies and investors. The programme encouraged them to join the ‘Race to Zero’. This requires businesses to take robust short-term action in a bid to halve global emissions by 2030, and to achieve net zero emissions as soon as possible and by 2050 at the very least.
The UK-India economic relationship is strong with trade of over £18 billion in 2020, supporting nearly half a million jobs.
