Indian Minister for Environment, Bhupender Yadav, said that Western countries had tried to impose coal restrictions on India and the Global South during COP28, but New Delhi rejected this attempt, India's media reported on Tuesday.
"They said (during the negotiations) for your coal sector, you must take permission. We declined. We raised the issue on behalf of the Global South. We also said if there are fossil fuel subsidies for poverty eradication, that should be allowed to continue," the minister said on Monday while speaking at the launch of a book titled "Modi Energising: A Green Future."
"It is clear that for energy transition, developed countries should make funds available to the Global South and transfer technology," the Indian minister stressed.
No country can develop without energy, Yadav insisted.
This is not the first time Yadav has alleged that the West had pressured India to follow their climate norms. Earlier in December, he said that developed nations wanted New Delhi to take the lead on climate change and "that is why the Dubai climate conference has been extended".
Yadav also addressed the longstanding pledge made by developed nations to set up climate finance for developing and impoverished nations. He also expressed concern over the absence of a clear definition for the term "climate finance", and the lack of transparency regarding the actual amount of climate funding provided so far.
"This time, after strong advocacy by India and other developing countries, member countries agreed to come up with a definition of climate finance," he said.
"In the past 200 years, developed countries have utilised most of the carbon space, led a very anthropocentric life leading to the climate change crisis, and now they cannot transfer their mitigation burden on developing countries," Yadav said. "India is championing this cause for developing countries," he noted.