COP26: PM Modi targets net zero emissions in India by 2070
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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised delegates at the COP26 climate summit with a bold pledge: the world's third-biggest emitter will reach net-zero by 2070.
The Prime Minister's announcement of becoming carbon neutral by 2070 at the 26th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Glasgow showed India's ambition when it comes to fighting climate change despite being a developing country, officials said.
The Indian deadline is ten years more than the Chinese plan to achieve the same while the USA and European Union had pledged to attain such a milestone by 2050.
Sharing a five-point action plan, Modi said by 2030 India would fulfill 50% of its energy requirements from renewables and would have 500 GW of energy from non-fossil sources instead of the current target of 450 GW.
"By 2070, India will achieve the target of net-zero emissions," Narendra Modi told more than 120 leaders at the critical talks on Monday.
In addition, Modi called on developed countries to dramatically raise their financial help to developing countries for the transition to clean energy and protection against climate impacts.
In his speech, Modi also called for a global push to adopt sustainable lifestyles.
"Instead of mindless and destructive consumption we need mindful and deliberate utilisation," he said, citing consumer choices in areas from packaging to diet.
"These choices, made by billions of people, can take the fight against climate change one step further," he said.
Responding to announcements made on Monday at World Leaders Summit of a stronger climate target with 50 per cent of its energy requirements to be met by renewables by 2030 and a commitment to cut one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) President and CEO Manish Bapna told IANS India is making a vital contribution in the global march against climate change, which disproportionately harms the world's vulnerable people the most.
Describing it the real climate action, Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) CEO Arunabha Ghosh told IANS: "India has clearly put the ball in the court of the developed world. Now India demands $1 trillion in climate finance as soon as possible, and will monitor not just climate action but also climate finance.
The commitment of 500GW of renewable energy by 2030, which is more than twice the installed capacity of coal currently, should set the stage for a quick transformation of the energy sector, the kind of which hasn't been witnessed so far, she added.