Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal blamed developed countries for contributing a disproportionately large share of global carbon emissions while failing to honour the climate finance commitments they made at COP21 in Paris in 2015.
Speaking at a roundtable during the Berlin Global Dialogue, Goyal said Western countries were largely responsible for the environmental damage caused by ozone layer depletion and carbon emissions. He also told the roundtable that India's contribution to global carbon emissions was only three to four percentage points lower than Europe's, despite India having a population of 1.4 billion and accounting for 17 per cent of the world's population.
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"Who's responsible for this mess in the first place? Where did the ozone layer get damaged? Who sent all that carbon into the atmosphere? I represent 17% of the world's population, but my contribution to global carbon emissions is less than 3%. You (Europe) represent probably 3% or 4% of the world's population, yet your contribution to those carbon emissions—or this mess—is humongous. The problem was caused by you," Goyal said.
Goyal said India's per capita carbon emissions remain significantly lower than those of Western countries, arguing that Europe’s per capita emissions and environmental impact are seven to eight times higher than India's.
“Even today, as we sit here, my per capita contribution to carbon emissions is probably less than 10 per cent or 15 per cent of yours. Even today, Europe's per capita contribution to carbon emissions—and its per capita environmental impact—is probably seven or eight times that of India,” Goyal said.
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What happened to $100 billion climate finance pledge, Goyal questions?
Goyal also reminded the developed countries of the world about the pledge to provide financial and technological support to developing and vulnerable nations under the Paris Agreement. He said that as per the agreement, developed countries were to assist developing countries with climate finance worth $100 billion but not a ‘dime of it’ has been received.
"At the Paris climate conference in 2015, when the whole world came together, it was Prime Minister Modi who brought the Global South together and encouraged countries to commit to addressing climate change at COP21. It was agreed that the developed countries, who have enjoyed the fruits of messing up the climate for so many decades, will pay a greater price, and will support the developing and less developed countries, as well as island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean...Just $100 billion a year. That was the commitment," Goyal said.
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“Eleven years later, we haven't seen a nickel or a dime of that. It's all promises. The larger question that the European Union and CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) have failed to answer,” Goyal added.
India reportedly recorded a decline in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2025 compared to the previous year, breaking a prolonged trend of rapid growth, according to the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) annual Emissions Gap Report released on Wednesday. The decline was attributed partly to weather-related factors and partly to structural shifts towards renewable energy.
The report noted that while India remains the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, its per capita emissions are less than half the global average and significantly lower than those of China and the United States, the two largest emitters, which reportedly recorded an increase in total emissions last year.