India aims for net-zero emissions by 2070, Modi tells COP26

Speaking at the Conference of the Parties (COP-26) summit in Glasgow, Modi said that India, the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, will increase its non-fossil energy generation capacity to 500GW by 2030, Will complete 50%. Renewable energy requirements over the same time frame, reducing its total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030 and reducing the economy’s carbon intensity to below 45% by the end of the decade.

Modi said that with India making such commitments to reduce its carbon footprint, finance and technology will be needed to meet these goals. Describing promises of providing finance for mitigation and adaptation so far as “hollow”, Modi said that with countries raising their ambitions to reduce carbon emissions, “pledges for finance may not remain as they are”. They were at that time the Paris Agreement”. He was referring to the 2015 climate summit in Paris.

“Today, when India has made a new commitment with new energy to deliver on its promises at a time like this, climate finance and low-cost climate technology become more important,” Modi said. .

He said India expects developed countries to provide $1 trillion for climate finance. Modi’s surprise statement announcing India’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2070 may ease some of the pressure from Asia’s third-largest economy to help curb global warming. In the run-up to Glasgow, India showed signs of shying away from committing to a date by which it would have achieved net-zero and would not update its nationally determined contribution—by a country to its GHG. promises to bring down.

But with India seeking time to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, while others have committed to net-zero by 2050 or 2060, Indian negotiators may face some inclement weather ahead. According to news reports, US President Joe Biden betrayed China and Russia for their less ambitious climate goals. A few days before Glasgow, China promised to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.

Modi was among prominent world leaders who spoke on Monday on the second day of the climate summit, which comes against the backdrop of dire warnings that the world has already warmed by 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit). Current projections are for it to reach 2.7C (4.9F) by 2100, based on planned emissions reductions over the next decade. The main objective of the Glasgow conference is to agree to a rapid halt to carbon emissions in order to keep global warming to 1.5 °C. 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) below pre-industrial levels. The world has already warmed by 1.1 °C (2 °F).

Modi was greeted by his British counterpart Boris Johnson on his arrival at the Scottish Exhibition Center to attend the opening ceremony of the COP26 climate summit, where he made a national statement.

Johnson opened a global climate summit earlier in the day, saying the world is bound by a “doomsday”.

Johnson told the summit that humanity had run down the clock when it comes to climate change, and the time for action is now. More than 130 world leaders gathered, he said, had an average age of over 60, while the generations that would be most harmed by climate change had not yet been born.

There were some fears that China’s Xi Jinping, the world’s second biggest polluter, was not attending the Glasgow summit.

But at the end of their meeting over the weekend in Rome, ahead of the UN climate summit, G-20 leaders offered some climate pledges rather than commitments to firm action, saying they would “by or around mid-century”. Will seek carbon neutrality. The countries also agreed to end public financing for coal-fired power generation overseas, but did not set any targets for eliminating coal domestically – a clear nod to China and India.

Meanwhile, Modi in his speech also slammed the developed countries for their wasteful lifestyle and “mindless consumption” habits, which he said have aggravated the problems related to the environment.