The Coalition was established by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is a voluntary international grouping, linking governments, UN agencies, banks, private sector groups, and academia to develop the resilience of infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks.

The Governing Council is the highest policy-making body of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). It is co-chaired by India and a representative of another national government nominated by rotation every two years.

The UK was represented at the first council meeting by UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the minister participated remotely over video link from the UK. The minister, who is President of the 2020 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), also held a meeting with Pramod Kumar Mishra, the Indian Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary, over videoconference.

Secretary of State for Business and Energy and COP26 President Alok Sharma said:

I was pleased to be able to join the inaugural meeting and confirm the UK as the first co-chair of the CDRI. Delivering action on climate change remains a priority for the UK and I am sure that the UK-India partnership on climate action will help see progress on reducing emissions and help make India’s infrastructure fit for the future.

Jan Thompson, Acting High Commissioner to India, said:

The UK is already working closely with India as a joint force for good on climate change. We believe the India-led CDRI will bring about a transformation in how infrastructure is designed, constructed, operated and maintained. This year is a crucial year for our climate, and I am confident that UK-India leadership on climate action can deliver substantial progress towards reducing emissions and helping to build resilience globally.

The UK will provide technical advice and expertise to help set up and build the Secretariat and advance the objectives of the Coalition. The initial focus will be on disaster and climate risk analysis and governance of infrastructure.

Further information

UK’s work on climate change/environmental issues:

In 2019, the UK became the first major economy to legislate to become a net zero emissions economy by 2050. Other landmark policies include a commitment to make all new cars and vans sold electric by 2040; and a doubling of our investment to tackle climate change and species loss (new pledge £11.6bn between 2021/22 to 2025/26).

The UK will host COP26 in Glasgow in November 2020.

UK-India working together:

On adaptation, we are working together through the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Act to build flood defences and river structures to encourage aquifer replenishment and together with India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences, we are gathering land, sea and atmospheric data to help deliver a decisive step forward in monsoon forecasting.

On electric mobility, a joint venture between UK’s EO Charging and India’s Yahhvi Enterprises will deliver charging infrastructure for electric vehicles cross India.

On finance, our governments committed £240 million of anchor capital in the Green Growth Equity Fund – its first investment going to Ayana Renewable Power, which is developing 800MW of solar generation capacity.

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Mail to: Ashwamegh Banerjee

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The outbreak of COVID -19 is an unprecedented and rapidly evolving challenge that has prompted many concerns that businesses might exploit the situation to take advantage of people, for example by charging excessive prices or making misleading claims about their products. In its statement of 5 March, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) urged retailers to behave responsibly and said that it would consider any evidence that companies may have broken competition or consumer protection law.

As the public health emergency worsens and its impact on the economy becomes more serious, the CMA is creating a taskforce which will:

• Scrutinise market developments to identify harmful sales and pricing practices as they emerge.
• Warn firms suspected of exploiting these exceptional circumstances – and people’s vulnerability – through unjustifiable prices or misleading claims. The CMA has already contacted traders and platforms regarding excessive pricing of hand sanitiser.
• Take enforcement action if there is evidence that firms may have breached competition or consumer protection law and they fail to respond to warnings.
• Equip the CMA to advise the Government on emergency legislation if there are negative impacts for people which cannot be addressed through existing powers.
• Enable the CMA to advise the Government on how to ensure competition law does not stand in the way of legitimate measures that protect public health and support the supply of essential goods and services. It will also advise on further policy and legislative measures to ensure markets function as well as possible in the coming months.

Binding statutory deadlines apply to a significant proportion of the CMA’s work and it intends to continue progressing its cases, making decisions and meeting deadlines – helped in part by the adjustments it is already making including things like remote working.

At the same time, it will continue to monitor timetables including, as permitted, extending statutory timeframes where necessary. It is reallocating resources to help ensure that the most urgent and the most critical work can be done on time.

Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s Chief Executive, said:

This is obviously a time when we all have to behave responsibly to protect our fellow citizens, and particularly those who are most vulnerable. We urge retailers to behave responsibly in the exceptional circumstances of the COVID -19 outbreak.

But if they do not, our taskforce is monitoring market developments to enable us to intervene as quickly as possible. We have a range of options at our disposal, from warnings to enforcement action to seeking emergency powers. We hope that such action will not be necessary, but we will do whatever is required to stop a small minority of businesses that may seek to exploit the present situation.

Andrew Tyrie, the CMA’s Chairman, said:

The intervention in the economy necessitated by public health policy may have a substantial impact on competition, with the risk of an increase in consumer detriment. That’s why this taskforce is needed.

The CMA is already mitigating some of these risks using existing powers. We are working closely with the Government to address this detriment and to advise where extra time-limited powers, exercisable on a contingency basis, may be needed.

For more information, visit the CMA COVID-19 response web page.

For media queries, contact the CMA press office on 020 3738 6460 or press@cma.gov.uk.

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