Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"I do think that all the 195 countries do have a common enemy, and the common enemy is the prospect of runaway climate change, of greenhouse gas emissions that would continue to increase and have the most pernicious effect on the developing countries and in particular on the vulnerable under-developing countries," Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) told NDTV's Noopur Tiwari in an exclusive interview.
Here is the full interview:NDTV: We are here with Cristiana Figueres, the woman who people say is in-charge of saving the planet. As the executive secretary of the UNFCCC, she has brought 195 countries together at the table to fight climate change and to save the planet.
Madame Figueres, your father led the Costa Rican revolution of 1948. To unite against a common enemy and fight is one thing but to sit at the table with supposed allies who might work against each other is another thing. Do you think, here in Paris, the parties have worked in such a way that the conditions have been created for an agreement to be reached?
Christiana Figueres: Well I do think that all the 195 countries do have a common enemy, and the common enemy is the prospect of runaway climate change, of greenhouse gas emissions that would continue to increase and of the most pernicious effect on the developing countries and in particular on the vulnerable under-developing countries. I think that is the something that everyone has realised. The question of course is: How do we bring down those emissions? But that the enemy is runaway emissions, I think it is very clear to everyone.
NDTV: You have always said that it is important to remain optimistic. But given the situation here today, we are halfway through the talks. Do you think the rich countries have come forth? Have they been constructive in these talks yet or not?
Christiana Figueres: I think everybody is trying to do the best that they can under the circumstances, this is not easy. This is the most complicated transformation that the global economic and social society has ever attempted. So they are all trying to do the best that they can. And yes, we are almost at the halfway point. Tomorrow we will see the result of what can be done under the structure that is currently in place and then the COP President will put into the place a higher political structure to finish the agreement.
NDTV: Also, one of the exceptional things about COP21 is that it brings together 134 nations under the G77 China group and that includes India as well. What do you have to say about the role that India has played so far because we have been hearing a lot, especially in the western media that is portraying India as the "blocker" so to speak. What do you have to say about the role India has played so far?
Christiana Figueres: The presence of the G77 group that is of more than 134 countries is not unique to this convention. It is actually a standing feature and it is also an honour for me to be part of it with my national perspective of the group of G77 in every single one of the UN party so that is not unique to the climate change convention. And to the role of India, I think it is very understandable that India is concerned about the 300 million people in India who are currently unelectrified and I think I would stand with Indians and say that it is unacceptable. What we need to do is we need to figure out how are we going to provide power to those 300 million people because power is one of the very very fundamental annexure to housing, it is one of the fundamental roots of development. Without that, it is very difficult to develop a country. So the question still remains however as to how is that best done and of course today we know that there are many different ways of doing that.
One would be to extend the grid all the way to where these people live. There is quite a bit of information that tells us that extending the grid is probably not the most effective way because if it had been, maybe it would have been done before. One of the challenges here is to figure out what are the new technologies that we have on hand, how can they help India to solve the problem and Prime Minister Modi is one of the leading thinkers here on this today on this issue.
We had the Sunshine summit, never a more wonderful name for a summit- the Sunshine summit and then under his leadership, he has launched the Global Solar Alliance here with 120 countries that are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn because those countries, mine included, but also India, have the most privileged sun exposure.
Then the question is: How do we make sure that we quickly can make use of that sun and the power that we need- in the case of India, to power 300 million people.
NDTV: As we are standing here in Paris, there is disaster unfolding in Chennai due to the rains. That also shows India's vulnerability. What would you like to say to people who are saying that India is pushing it too far and is playing a negative role over here, given that Chennai shows we are vulnerable too.
Christiana Figueres: The fact is that there is no single country that is not vulnerable and whether they are the floods in Chennai that have had already several hundred people dead and I understand, 3 million cut off from basic service. Whether they are directly related to climate change, whether they have been exacerbated by climate change, one thing is fundamentally true -- it is a very typical example of the kinds of conditions that we are going to have in India and everywhere else if we do not do a good job here.
Hence, I think that the call from India is a very very important call to remind us all. Just like we have had other calls of the disaster in Philippines, this time it is India calling everyone to the task.
NDTV: Do you think any stumbling blocks have been removed as far as rich countries coming up to keeping their promise to come forward to pay? That is the most important question, isn't it?
Christiana Figueres: It is one of the important questions and I don't think any of the stumbling blocks that we have here, any of the challenges have been fully removed because they will not be individually removed. This has to be an integral, comprehensive support system where finance is very important but it is part of a larger package. So we remain expectant of seeing the larger package next week.