The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today addressed the World Bank Event titled ‘Making it Personal: How Behavioral Change Can Tackle Climate Change’ via video message. The Prime Minister acknowledged his personal connection with the theme and expressed happiness that it is becoming  a global movement.

Quoting Chanakya, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of the small deeds and said “by itself, each good deed for the planet may seem insignificant. But when  billions across the world do it together, the impact is huge. We believe that individuals making the right decisions for our planet  are key in the battle  for our planet. This is  the core of Mission LiFE.”

Talking about the genesis of the LiFE movement the Prime Minister remembered that in 2015 at the United Nations General Assembly he spoke  about the need  for behavioural  change and in October 2022, the UN Secretary General and he launched  Mission LiFE. He mentioned that the preamble to the outcome document of CoP-27 also speaks about sustainable lifestyle and consumption. If people understand that it is not just the government but they too can contribute, the Prime Minister pointed out that “their anxiety will turn into action.”  He elaborated “climate change cannot be fought from conference tables alone. It has to be fought  from the dinner tables in every home. When an idea moves from discussion tables  to dinner tables,  it becomes  a mass movement. Making every family and every individual  aware that their choices  can help the planet  can provide  scale and speed. Mission LiFE  is about democratising the battle against climate change. When people  become conscious that simple acts  in their daily lives are powerful,  there will be a very positive impact  on the environment.”

 Shri Modi illustrated his thinking with examples from India and said “in this matter of mass movements and behaviour transformation,  the people of India  have done  a lot  in the last few years.” . He gave examples of improved sex ratio, massive cleanliness drive, adoption of LED bulbs which helps in avoiding  nearly 39 million tonnes  of Carbon Dioxide emissions  every year. Saving water by coverage of  nearly seven hundred thousand hectares of farmland  by micro-irrigation.

Shri Modi informed that under Mission LIFE, the government’s efforts are spread across  many domains such as making local bodies environment-friendly, saving water, saving energy, reducing waste and e-waste, adopting healthy lifestyles, adoption of natural farming, promotion of millets.

These efforts, he said, will save over twenty two billion units  of energy, save nine trillion litres of water, reduce waste by three hundred and seventy five million tons, recycle almost one million tons of  e-waste and generate  around one hundred and seventy million dollars  of additional cost savings  by 2030. “Further, it will help us  reduce the wastage  of fifteen billion tons of food. Let me give you  a comparison  to know how big this is. The global primary crop production  in 2020  according to FAO  was about nine billion tons”, he elaborated. 

Prime Minister Modi emphasized that global institutions  have an important role  to play  in encouraging countries  across the world. Referring to the World Bank Group’s  proposed increase in climate finance from 26% to 35%, as a share of  total financing, he said that the focus  of this climate finance is usually on  conventional aspects. “Adequate financing methods  need to be worked out  for behavioural  initiatives too. A show of support by the World Bank  towards behavioural  initiatives  such as Mission LiFE  will have  a multiplier effect”, he concluded. 

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DS