22 December 2022, New Delhi: Echoing the Indian Government’s call for the global phaseout of all fossil fuels during the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, 11 Indian MPs from across political parties have endorsed the call to develop a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty,  a proposed international mechanism to complement meeting the Paris Agreement’s goal of 1.5C while enabling an equitable and just transition for every country according to its national circumstances and capacity.

The global campaign and diplomatic initiative calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty was launched in September 2020 and has since built further support from 101 Nobel laureates, over 3,000+ scientists and academics, 1,800+ civil society organisations, 500+ parliamentarians from 69 countries and 70 major cities and subnational governments globally including London, Hawai’i and Kolkata.

In September 2022, Vanuatu became the first country to publicly call for the negotiation of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty on the floor of the UN General Assembly. A month later the European Parliament called for nation states to develop a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty in their formal COP27 resolution.
 
The 11 member of Parliament that endorsed the call for developing the Fossil Fuel Treaty are Uttama Kumar Reddy (INC, Telangana), Shridhar Kotagiri (YRS Congress, Andhra Pradesh), PV Mithun Reddy (YRS Congress, Andhra Pradesh), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP, Bihar), Kamlesh Paswan (BJP, Uttar Pradesh), Gaurav Gogoi (INC, Assam), Rajani Ashok Rao Patil (INC, Maharashtra), Vincent H Pala ( INC, Meghalaya), Dr. Aimee Yajnik ( INC, Gujarat), Sunita Duggal ( BJP, Haryana) and Dr. Pritam Gopinath Munde(BJP, Maharashtra).

“India has been calling for phaseout of all fossil fuels since the COP at Glasgow in 2021, however the developed and rich countries while they preach to the developing countries to stop coal, have gone ahead and approved new coal mines and more coal plants in their countries and are planning to extract more oil and gas. This hypocrisy has to stop.  A Fossil Fuel non-proliferation treaty maybe a good start to bring everyone to the table and begin the planned phase out of fossils fuels according to each country’s national circumstances and development needs and in line with the Paris Agreement.” Said Vincent H Pala, INC MP from Meghalaya.

“Earlier this month the Indian Parliament has passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022 that aims to mandate the use of green energy and allows the government to specify the minimum amount of non-fossil sources to be used by designated energy consumers. This is one more concrete step for energy transition that our country has taken.” Said  Kamlesh Paswan BJP MP from Bihar.
 
“Instead of underwriting new fossil fuel mines and projects, rich countries should  provide additional finance, technology and capacity building support to countries in the Global South to enable a transition to 100% renewable energy, economic diversification for fossil fuel dependent sectors and economies, and a just transition for workers and communities as proposed in the Fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty. More countries should come forward to champion the treaty and find a quicker path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” Said Sanjay Vashisht , Director CANSA.
 
“Dependency on fossil fuels is not just a climate change issue, it’s also a human rights issue and an environmental issue as well. The impact of the fossil fuel industry on human rights occurs when they are displaced for a new fossil fuel project, or when it affects the water and air conditions of people living close to it. We have to move away from fossil fuels if we are to limit global warming to 1.5C, and protect our people who are already highly impacted by rising temperatures.” Said Nakul Sharma, Fossil Fuel Treaty campaign coordinator.

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is critically needed as a complement to the Paris Agreement to hold governments and the industry accountable for emissions from the production of fossil fuels. As it stands, national governments plan to expand fossil fuels at levels that would result in 110 percent more emissions than what is in keeping with the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. 

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty proposal is structured around three core pillars:

● Enabling a global just transition for every country, worker and community, including through support to transition away from fossil fuel dependence, scaling up access to renewable energy, and allowing for economic diversification for fossil-free development pathways;
● Preventing the proliferation of coal, oil and gas by ending all new exploration and production;
● Phasing out existing production of fossil fuels in line with the 1.5oC global climate goal, in a manner that is fair and equitable, where wealthy nations with the capacity and historical responsibility for emissions transition fastest.

For more information, contact:
Nakul Sharma, Program Coordinator, Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) :
nakul@cansouthasia.net
Mukul Sharma, Asia Director, Climate Parliament : mukul@climateparl.net
Divyanshi Yadav, Communications Officer, Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA):
divyanshi@cansouthasia.net