Adoption of joint statement
Germany and India agreed to intensify their environmental cooperation with a special focus on climate change at the third Indo-German intergovernmental consultations held in New Delhi under the leadership of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a joint statement, both parties embraced the objective of reaching a global climate agreement in Paris to keep the average increase in global temperature under two degrees Celsius. In addition to the joint statement on climate change, both countries came to an agreement to strengthen their cooperation on biodiversity conservation. They also plan to increase bilateral cooperation in the field of waste and water management.
State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth, who represented the German environment ministry at the consultations, declared: "This outcome is another important step towards the Paris climate summit in December." He welcomed India’s submission of its intended nationally determined contribution the previous week, especially for its ambitious renewable energy and energy efficiency goals. "All major emitters have now presented their contributions. This provides an extremely important signal in the run-up to the Paris summit."
In the joint statement on climate change, both countries reaffirm their intention to give increasing priority to energy efficiency improvements and the use of renewable energies in order to replace fossil energies. Both parties are convinced that adaptation to climate change must be an essential element of the Paris outcome. They agreed to put in place new cooperation structures: a bilateral working group under the existing Indo-German environment forum and an Indo-German climate and renewable alliance, which will bring together the relevant actors of both countries.
On the occasion of the intergovernmental consultations, State Secretary Flasbarth held talks with high-ranking representatives of the Indian government in Delhi, including with Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Environment Secretary Ashok Lavasa, Urban Development Secretary Madhusudan Prasad, New and Renewable Energy Secretary Upendra Tripathy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic adviser Arvind Subramanian.
Together with Hem Kumar Pande, Additional Secretary in India’s environment ministry, Jochen Flasbarth visited Nagarhole National Park in the State of Karnataka. They discussed the possibility of implementing a joint climate-neutrality project for an Indian national park. Jochen Flasbarth also proposed his ministry’s support for an exchange among Indian and African national park managers on action against illegal hunting. India has made great progress in combatting poaching in recent years.
State Secretary Flasbarth praised the Indian smart cities programme: "I am impressed by the ambitious programme, both by its scope and the speediness with which it is to be implemented." The Indian government has opted for public private partnerships to finance the initiative. The central government is providing 6.5 billion euros over five years for that purpose. 98 of the 100 smart cities had been designated by the end of August – 20 cities are to be selected at the end of January 2016 for participation in the first funding cycle.
According to Jochen Flasbarth, the German environment ministry will soon outline the details of its support for the programme: "At the next meeting of the Indo-German joint working group on sustainable urban development in New Delhi at the end of February 2016, my colleague State Secretary Gunther Adler will provide details on how Germany can support the smart cities programme There are plans to launch a project designed to support India in implementing the programme. The project would be funded by Germany’s international climate initiative and could have a specific local focus if needed. State Secretary Flasbarth emphasised that German companies interested in contributing to the smart cities programme were already actively engaged in negotiations.