Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for World Bank support to initiatives for behavioural changes as collective efforts across the world can save the planet from the adverse impact of climate change.
He was addressing the World Bank event titled “Making it Personal: How Behavioural Change Can Tackle Climate Change,” via a video message.
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Global institutions have an important role to play in encouraging countries across the world, the Prime Minister said. “I am told that the World Bank Group is looking to increase climate finance from 26 per cent to 35 per cent, as a share of total financing,” he said.
The focus of this climate finance is usually on conventional aspects, he said. Adequate financing methods need to be worked out for behavioural initiatives too. A show of support by the World Bank towards behavioural initiatives such as Mission LiFE will have a multiplier effect, Modi said.
By itself, each good deed for the planet may seem insignificant. But when billions across the world do it together, the impact is huge. “We believe that individuals making the right decisions for our planet are key in the battle for our planet. This is the core of Mission LiFE,” he said.
The seeds of this movement were sown long ago, he said. “In 2015, at the United Nations General Assembly, I spoke about the need for behavioural change. Since then, we have come a long way. In October 2022, the UN Secretary General and I launched Mission LiFE,” Modi said.
“The preamble to the outcome document of CoP-27 also speaks about sustainable lifestyle and consumption. And it is wonderful to see that experts in the climate change arena have also adopted this mantra,” he said.
People across the world hear a lot about climate change. Many of them feel a lot of anxiety because they do not know what they can do about it. They are constantly made to feel that only governments or global institutions have a role. If they learn that they can also contribute, their anxiety will turn into action, the Prime Minister said.
Climate change cannot be fought from conference tables alone, he said. It has to be fought from the dinner tables in every home. When an idea moves from discussion tables to dinner tables, it becomes a mass movement.
“Making every family and every individual aware that their choices can help the planet, can provide scale and speed. Mission LiFE is about democratising the battle against climate change. When people become conscious that simple acts in their daily lives are powerful, there will be a very positive impact on the environment,” he said.
Under Mission LIFE, efforts are made across many domains such as making local bodies environment-friendly; saving water; saving energy; reducing waste and e-waste; adopting healthy lifestyles; adoption of natural farming; and promotion of millets.
These efforts will save over 22 billion units of energy; save nine trillion litres of water; reduce waste by three hundred and seventy five million tonnes; recycle almost one million tonnes of e-waste, and generate around $170 million dollars of additional cost savings by 2030.
“Further, it will help us reduce the wastage of 15 billion tonnes of food,” the Prime Minister said. How big this saving can be realized by comparing it with the global primary crop production in 2020, which according to FAO, was about nine billion tonnes, he said.
