Environment Minister Javadekar: No “unnatural restriction on natural growth”

In an interview a month before the COP, Prakash Javadekar, India’s minister for the environment, stands his ground on India’s right to develop, and to emit: “If someone is putting restrictions on India or any developing country it is unacceptable.”

Any unnatural restriction on natural growth of developing world is unacceptable. […] You (the developed world) have used coal for centuries, you have polluted the world and suddenly you wake up and tell us – you don’t use coal. Even today our per capita coal consumption is 1/5th of US and in absolute terms its much less than US even today. I have that right to at least go up to that level. You cannot have un-natural restrictions on this.

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